Nurses become family to WWII veteran
STUDIO CITY, Calif. (KABC) -- UPDATE: Roz Wyles, Norman Wyles' daughter, contacted ABC7 Eyewitness News to say that she was not estranged from her father. She said she could not care for the elder Wyles because she lives out of state.
ORIGINAL STORY: Nurses Emily Brown and Suzanne Silva can't forget the special memories they shared with a man they say changed their lives.
"He was just larger than life. We were lucky to have him and to call him our own," Brown said of World War II veteran Col. Norman Wyles.
Wyles literally rolled into their lives when he was brought into the emergency room at Northridge Hospital in 2011.
"This personality bellowed through the ER. It was like a magnet. You were drawn to him," Silva said.
The pair learned Wyles had been a colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps, joining in 1941. He had three Purple Hearts and was a patriot to the bone.
But he had no family to care for him. His wife and son had died and his daughter was estranged.
Wyles' sassy personality -- always singing and laughing-- drew them in.
"For the last four years, we've adopted him and he's adopted us, he has become family to us," Brown said.
"We would go to lunches and dinners and the barber and shaves and ice cream," Silva said.
He called the nurses his daughters. They were family.
"Our worst fear really was that when the time came, because we were not 'family,' we were not going to be notified,' Silva said.
That fear came true Feb. 24, when Wyles died just before his 99th birthday. No one from the nursing home called to let them know. They learned of his funeral just two hours before the service.
"It was me and the rabbi and the two military officers that were carrying his body," Brown said.
Desperate to celebrate his life and legacy, the two are inviting the public to celebrate Wyles with a special service.
"He is one of those people that I just wish that the world could meet him. In a small way, maybe this is just so that I can show everyone how lucky Suzanne and I were to call him family and to honor him the way that he deserves," Brown said.
The memorial will be held at 2 p.m. March 28 at the VFW Post 2323, located at 17522 Chatsworth St. in Granada Hills.
