'He was my grumpy old goat': Public invited to Army veteran's memorial Saturday

For the last 14 years of his life, Michael Pump of South Elgin considered himself "a monster" after surgery to remove a cancerous mass left with him with almost no face.

He had no living blood relatives and was staying at the Rosewood Nursing Home in Elgin. Then fate, in the form of a therapy dog named Bear, delivered him Cathie Kross.

"He was my grumpy old goat," Kross said. "He became part of my family."

Pump, 77, died Oct. 9. The public is invited to attend a memorial service for him Saturday at Symonds-Madison Funeral Home in Elgin.

A former Army sergeant, Pump will be the fourth veteran that Symonds-Madison has honored with a community funeral since last year. Like the previous three, Pump had no living relatives.

But if you ask Kross, he had a family, despite him fighting it at first.

"When I met Michael, he wanted nothing to do with me," Kross said. But her dog took to Pump, and he ended up letting down his guard a little, she said.

She visited with Bear every week and would make Pump her last visit.

Though it took him a while to open up, they eventually spent a lot of time talking about Pump's love of the Chicago Blackhawks and his hobbies from when he was younger, like restoring corvettes, '80s rock music and riding his Harley-Davidson motorcycle.

"Fate brought us together," she said. "My dog could have went to anybody in that physical therapy room, but he went to Mike."

Kross said Pump was guarded because of his appearance.

Two years before meeting Kross, Pump lost a leg to untreated diabetes. A few weeks later, he was diagnosed with what Kross called "an ocular-sinus cancerous mass."

The surgery to remove it left him disfigured.

"He lost his leg, and then three weeks later, he lost his face," Kross said.

"There were no eyes, no nose - he would wear a mesh bandage around his face and put a baseball hat on when he went out. He felt people stared at him less."

After they became friends, Kross tried to invite Pump over for Christmas.

"You don't want a monster in your house for the holidays," he told her.

Kross said they ended up bringing Christmas to him.

"I told him that'll be the last time you refuse an invitation to my house," she said.

Kross helped Pump move from Rosewood to Heritage Woods in South Elgin when it opened 11 years ago. He has been a part of her family's life ever since.

"He would probably be aggravated that we're doing this for him," she said. "He didn't like attention because of the way he was, but I feel like he should go out with what he deserves."

Funeral home owner Dan Symonds, himself a veteran, said Pump and all veterans deserve to be recognized when they die.

"For me, as a First Sergeant, I would have told him what I tell any of my soldiers," Symonds said. "Tough, you're getting your honors whether you like it or not."

Visitation for Pump will begin at 2 p.m. Saturday, with the memorial following at 3 p.m. The Rev. Tim Perry of the Nationwide Chaplains Veterans Fund will officiate. Military honors by the Army will follow.

Interment will be at a later date at Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery in Elwood, Illinois.