From Ben Light, elder, Salem, Oregon, United Church of God, October 12, 2017: 

It is with the heaviest of hearts that I notify you of the death of John Cafourek.

 

John was in surgery yesterday for 9.5 hours and the surgeon was able to repair a leaky valve—and replaced it with a cow valve. His heart had restarted and was pumping on its own. The surgeon said it was a miracle that he had survived as long as he had with the leak where it was located.

 

John made it through the surgery successfully, and the initial prognosis looked good. As the night continued, however, his condition deteriorated. The doctors struggled to control the bleeding, and his body would not respond to efforts to warm him up. His heart finally gave out a little after 1 a.m. Pacific time this morning.

 

As you might imagine, Sandy is devastated and it's been a very long couple of days for her and the family. No one has had any serious sleep since he was admitted.

John has served God's people for many years, in many different congregations, and was a shepherd in its truest sense. The sheep always came first. We're going to miss him terribly, but we praise and thank God for the example he set and for the time that we had with him. Precious in the eyes of God is the death of His saints. We all look forward to the fulfillment of God's plan, and the resurrection of his saints--when we will see him again.