Shortly before he was to rejoin his family in Bowling Green, Edward Bohlander passed away in Vietnam over the weekend following a severe head injury that left him comatose and stranded in the country for months.

“He’s going to be really missed by his two kids,” said Gretchen LaGodna, Bohlander’s sister, describing him as a caring and quirky man. “He was all of those things that make your family life interesting.”

Bohlander took the trip of his dreams to Vietnam in late March. For years, he’d wanted to soak up the country’s rich history first hand. Even better, he was with his good friend Ronnie Carrico and 18-year-old son, Will Bohlander.

Vietnam’s culture, scenery and cuisine were everything the retired Western Kentucky University sociology professor imagined.

“That makes us happy,” LaGodna said.

But that dream was abruptly cut short when Bohlander fell in his Ho Chi Minh City hotel room and suffered a severe head injury that left him in a coma. Bohlander had multiple sclerosis.

Since then, Bohlander’s family has struggled to bring him home. Bohlander’s wife, Crystal, was a constant presence by his side.

“Vietnam was Ed’s place,” Crystal Bohlander wrote in a Facebook message Sunday. “He loved it, wrestled with its meaning and political history for decades and chose to make it his last big trip. It is a beautiful place and one he chose not to leave in the end.”

On June 25, Crystal Bohlander learned that she would soon be returning home with her husband following an update from Allianz, the family’s travel insurance company.

“Management has … given us approval to arrange and to pay for the air ambulance to get your husband back to Kentucky,” an Allianz representative told Crystal Bohlander in an email at the time.

The family planned to hold a reunion at Hospice of Southern Kentucky, where Bohlander was to receive care. That changed right before Edward Bohlander was to board an air ambulance in Vietnam, when he suddenly passed away. He was 72 years old.

Carrico, who traveled to Vietnam with Bohlander, remembers his friend as a compassionate and interesting person fascinated with Vietnam’s history and connection the U.S.

“He was just a very unique individual,” Carrico said, adding Bohlander was also beloved by his students at WKU. “He was loved by all of them.”

Carrico also appreciated the community’s support.

“The outpouring of support from the community was just overwhelming,” he said.

Community members rallied around Edward Bohlander, with supporters raising more than $8,000 in an online funding campaign.

Bohlander taught at WKU for about 35 years, LaGodna said. After earning his doctorate from Ohio State University in 1973, Bohlander made his academic home at WKU.

“He was a man who loved teaching,” LaGodna said, adding he continued to teach one class each semester even in his retirement. “Even after he retired, he still couldn’t quit.”

LaGodna described her brother’s passing as a tremendous loss.

“He’s going to be terribly missed,” she said.