In the spring of 1965 Mr. Lilly made his customary
stop at Stack’s,
reviewed what we had acquired for him,
and set up a delivery at Eagle’s Nest. During that delivery we once again looked at his various
collections and new additions. In
fact he showed me in his vault room a set of solid gold tableware service for 12, which he had made for Mrs. Lilly for their 50th wedding anniversary. I
left that afternoon with Mr. Lilly’s encouragement to continue working to keep the collection growing.
We spoke to each other over the following months
and Mr. Lilly advised us of when he planned to stop in New York on his way
to Florida for the winter. However, about two weeks before he was to
arrive, I got a call from his secretary advising that Mr. Lilly had
delayed his trip, was not feeling well, and would update me later as to his
plans. After a month went by, and we received no direct word from him, I
spoke to his secretary, who advised that he was still not well and would
probably cancel his winter trip to Florida. But, we were to continue
getting more coins for his collection.
By the week before Christmas 1965, Mr. Lilly’s
secretary related that he was too weak to travel and would be canceling his
trip. Before New Year’s I heard from him directly. He offered his holiday
greetings and wanted to know how we were progressing. We spoke often
during the early months of the 1966, and he seemed to be weaker each
time.
Then, in mid April, a call came from his secretary
that he was well enough to have a visitor and asked if I could come to
Indianapolis. She added, that it was evident to her that he loved
his gold coin collection and that he enjoyed visiting with coin people and with
me when I came to visit. I was told that his doctors wanted all visits from
family and friends to be limited to about a half hour. Of course I
understood and agreed to follow any instructions. She arranged once
again for my
stay at the Indianapolis Athletic Club
for the night before I was to see him, and that his chauffeur would pick
me up about 8:30 in the morning to visit with him. All worked according to
the schedule.
However, this visit would be very different from
all of my previous visits, as I will describe in my next article.
