"Terry C. Johnston died today, March 25, 2001, after weeks in the ICU of St. Vincent's Hospital, Billings. Before the life support systems were turned off a while ago, his wife, Vanette, read the last three pages of Wind Walker to the assembled doctors and nurses and family and friends. Then she played the flute, the very flute on the cover of the book, because in the story, one cannot become a wind walker until one has played it. And since he couldn't, she played it for him. His hero, Titus Bass, had always been Terry's alter ego, and in this last novel of the series, Bass dies at the end. Terry had a premonition of his own death, and only three days after the publication of Wind Walker, Terry was operated on and a tumor removed from his intestines. The nurses and doctors struggled for seven weeks against Terry's failing health. Everyone present wept as Vanette read the last pages of Terry's novel."
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