Jim Kinhan relaxed into his living room recliner last Sunday as his twin 9-year-old granddaughters painted
his toenails rainbow colors.
That night Kinhan, who had terminal colon cancer, decided to end his life. He stopped eating, his family said, his only legal option.
“I would call it a moment of euphoria,” said his son Kelly Kinhan. “He had accomplished everything and there was nothing left that he needed to do.”
Kinhan died Thursday morning at his home at 82-years-old.
The long-time Concord resident was given a terminal prognosis more than three years ago, but instead of a death-sentence he saw it as an opportunity to “walk toward my dying,” he told the Monitor in 2015.
Kinhan used the time to help launch a conversation about death, by talking about his own preference to choose when he would pass.
“I have always been known as a joyful spirit and that’s the way I want to leave,” he said last year. “I want that choice, and I want that choice for other people.”
At the State House, Kinhan advocated for the creation of a committee to study end-of-life decisions and “death with dignity” laws, also known as physician-assisted suicide.
When Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan vetoed two such proposals, Kinhan pledged to keep at it.
“I am a stakeholder,” Kinhan told the Monitor last winter. “I want to end my life with dignity, and go out smiling.”
His efforts weren’t limited to New Hampshire. Kinhan sparked the conversation on a national scale in February, when he asked Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton where she stands on “death with dignity” during a televised CNN town hall.
“This may come a little bit from right field, this may seem, but it’s very personal to me,” said Kinhan, who wore a bright magenta sweater.
In an election year dominated by candidate attacks and voter anger, Kinhan’s heartfelt question captured national attention and even seemed to catch Clinton off guard.
“I have to tell you, this is the first time I’ve been asked that question,” she responded.
Five states, including Oregon, Vermont and California, allow people with terminal illness to end their lives. Colorado voters will decide in November whether to approve a right-to-die law.
For Kinhan, the choice was about maintaining quality of life.
He refused to say he struggled or suffered from a disease, instead using the phrase “walking with cancer” to describe his condition.
The punishing chemotherapy regimen – which left Kinhan drained several days a week – stopped being effective last spring. His health faded throughout the summer, but the avid golfer and volunteer at the South Congregational Church maintained his hobbies. He and his partner Ginny Mierins, regular walkers in the neighborhood who walked 100 miles across England two years ago, went on their last stroll along the Merrimack River in August. Kinhan golfed three holes last Tuesday at a course in Portsmouth along Great Bay.
So many friends wanted to visit Kinhan and say their goodbyes over the last few weeks, Mierins had to keep a schedule book.
Kinhan died about three days after he stopped eating, his family said. His last breath came at 7:40 a.m. Thursday in his family home with Mierins beside him singing “What a Wonderful World.”
His family is thankful death came quickly, given that the state doesn’t have an aid-in-dying law.
“If that kind of situation had stretched out for seven days or two weeks, he probably would have wanted to make a different choice,” said daughter Maryellen Kinhan.
Kinhan won’t see a bill passed, but the legislative work will continue. Concord Sen. Dan Feltes plans to file legislation next year to study end-of-life decisions.
“I’m sure (Kinhan) left feeling like he had work uncompleted on that front,” Kelly Kinhan said. “He hoped that he touched enough people that would pick up the gauntlet and run with it.”
Calling hours are 4-6 p.m. on Saturday, October 15 at Concord South Congregational Church. The celebration of life is Sunday at 2 p.m. and the family asks attendees to wear colorful clothes.
(Allie Morris can be reached at 369-3307 or amorris@cmonitor.com.)