{"id":15916,"date":"2020-10-08T16:52:54","date_gmt":"2020-10-08T20:52:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=15916"},"modified":"2020-10-17T17:44:45","modified_gmt":"2020-10-17T21:44:45","slug":"rex-walls-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/rex-walls-death\/","title":{"rendered":"Rex Walls: Death and Impact on the Walls Family"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When was Rex Walls’ death? How did he die, and how did his death affect his family?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rex Walls’ death was difficult for all of his children, even if they were estranged from him. Jeannette Walls writes about how the family was able to remember Rex fondly, even though his actions caused them suffering. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read more about Rex Walls’ death, and his relationship with his daughter Jeannette. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Rex Walls’ Death: The End of the Road<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Both Jeannette and Brian grew distant from their parents after Maureen left. Brian married and moved to a house on Long Island, and he now had a baby daughter. Lori was more in touch with Rex and Rose Mary, but they stopped having family get-togethers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A year after Maureen left, Rex called Jeannette and asked to see her. He also asked if she\u2019d bring him a bottle of vodka. When Jeannette arrived to their tenement, a half-gallon of vodka in tow, she found her parents snuggled under a blanket in bed. They were older, more worn and weathered, and overly thin. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rex announced that he was dying. He said he\u2019d contracted a rare tropical blood disease from a Nigerian drug dealer.<\/strong> In actuality, all the years of smoking and drinking had caught up to him. He had a few weeks to months left, which meant he might not live to see sixty. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite all of the ways Rex had made their lives chaos, Jeannette couldn\u2019t imagine life without him. They stayed up talking about old times, and Rex reassured her that he was okay with his life ending. Even though he\u2019d never built the Glass Castle, he\u2019d had a hell of a time planning it with her. Jeannette was the one good thing he\u2019d done with his life. She\u2019d made him proud. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two weeks later, Rex had a heart attack. Jeannette, Lori, and Rose Mary were at the hospital where he was hooked up to life support. Jeannette had the sudden urge to check him out Rex Walls<\/a> style. An hour later, Rex died.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After Rex Walls’ death, Jeannette grew discontent with her life. She couldn\u2019t stay still anymore and always wanted to be someplace other than where she was. She took up ice skating just to feel like she was moving forward. But even that didn\u2019t help. Within a year, she divorced Eric and moved out of the apartment. She found a small apartment and finally felt like she was where she belonged.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When was Rex Walls’ death? How did he die, and how did his death affect his family? Rex Walls’ death was difficult for all of his children, even if they were estranged from him. Jeannette Walls writes about how the family was able to remember Rex fondly, even though his actions caused them suffering. Read more about Rex Walls’ death, and his relationship with his daughter Jeannette.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":16087,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,33],"tags":[134],"class_list":["post-15916","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books","category-people","tag-the-glass-castle","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nRex Walls: Death and Impact on the Walls Family - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"How did Rex Walls' death affect his children? 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