PUEBLO &mdash ;The last man pulled from the wreckage of a Pueblo explosion last month has died, just days after being released from the hospital.
Seventy-four-year-old Eugene “Geno” Roney died Saturday at a hospice. The Pueblo Chieftain reported that Roney was released from the hospital Monday and admitted to a hospice on Christmas Eve. A friend and caretaker, Max Garcia, told the newspaper that Roney died of cancer.
Roney was among several injured in mid-November, when a natural gas explosion leveled the Branch Inn and a clothing store in downtown Pueblo. One woman was killed, and Roney was trapped for more than four hours before being rescued.
After Roney was rescued, he spent five weeks recovering from his injuries, including burns and broken bones, in Parkview Medical Center. When he was released Monday, Garcia told the newspaper, he was told he didn’t have much longer to live because of terminal cancer.
Garcia did not say whether Roney knew about the terminal cancer before the explosion.
“The doctor said it was just too far along,” said Garcia, who was granted power of attorney for Roney, who had no local relatives. “They said they just wanted him to be comfortable.”
Garcia told the newspaper that he tried to care for Roney at home but couldn’t.
“I had him with me here at home until Dec. 24,” Garcia said. “He was just too hard to take care of. I couldn’t lift him, so we put him in hospice.”
The Branch Inn explosion happened Nov. 13, just moments after Roney entered the hotel’s bar and ordered a beer.
The thunderous blast leveled the bar and an adjoining boutique. A worker in the dress shop, 22-year-old Ashley Johnson, was killed.
Roney told the newspaper earlier that he had just sat down to talk to the Branch Inn co-owner when the explosion happened. Roney was trapped under the rubble for more than four hours before rescuers pulled him to safety.
“I had one sip of beer,” he said after being released from the hospital last week. “I got all banged up. My shoes were on fire, my shirt, my hair.”
Despite his illness, Roney was in good spirits, said Garcia, who visited him hours before he passed away.
“He seemed to be doing fine, the same old Geno. The news was very unexpected,” Garcia said.
Funeral arrangements were pending, and Garcia told the paper he planned a public wake at Zippers in Pueblo, another favorite watering hole of Roney’s.
“He was a good guy and he’s going to be missed,” Garcia said.
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Information from: The Pueblo Chieftain,
