Nellis was witty and charming 'til the end. I had the ineffable experience of sharing a room with him in a treatment center in the days before he checked out. The last night that he was there, he was audibly uncomfortable, and in a way that I can't now justify, the compassion that I felt toward this fellow suffering man was alloyed with traces of irritability at that moment for not being able to sleep in Elysian peace; the next morning, he was gone. Everyone asked how/where he was, for in such a short time he had made such a profound impression on all whose paths he crossed. I went to see him on Thursday, the day that I got out, at the hospital where he was initially transferred to, but learned that he had been discharged the day before...
What a man! What a loss!! I will never forget sharing what were to be his last days with him. Fuck.