"I don't know why he chose this moment," Juan Thompson said. "But he was quite clear about what he was doing and he was going to go out on his own terms on his own time."...The fact that the relatives see Thompson's suicide in a different light has not lessened their pain — as evidenced by the roll of toilet paper on the couch filling in for the tissues they have used up.

Juan says Hunter was not coming off a drug or alchohol binge:

Did Hunter Thompson have his favorite liquid sidekick, a glass of Chivas Regal on the counter? "Of course he did," Juan Thompson said.

But he emphasized that his father was not in a state. "He was rested," he said. "He got a night's sleep. He was calm. A lot of people figure it was the end of a five-night binge. It was a deliberate choice. It wasn't something made in a drug or alcohol fog. "The guy was a warrior, and he went out like a warrior."

Juan, who found Hunter in the kitchen, says the death wasn't peaceful, but it wasn't violent:

When Thompson fired his .45-caliber handgun at 5:42 p.m., Winkel Thompson was with Will in the adjacent living room. Juan Thompson was in a nearby office. Both thought the explosion was a book falling. Winkel Thompson continued playing 20 questions with Will. Juan Thompson continued taking a photo. Until a few minutes later.

"When I found him, he was in his chair, his head was slumped forward," Juan Thompson recounted. "It looked like he had fallen asleep. I saw him. I thought, 'Oh, did he fall asleep in his chair?'

"You never describe a gun as peaceful, but it wasn't violent."

Juan approves of the plan to shoot Hunter's ashes out of a cannon. He envisions low-flying airplanes overhead.

Juan Thompson says the idea is "totally fitting. I was thinking the other day of Hunter lying in a coffin with ministers over him. Good God, that's wrong."

As to Owl Farm, Hunter's Woody Creek compound, it will stay in the family:

While Hunter Thompson's ashes would be scattered to the winds, his family said Tuesday that his house and property will stay. If his wife, Anita Thompson, does not stay on the place alternately called Owl Farm and a "fortified compound," they will preserve the house, land and cannon. "It will be a permanent installation," Winkel Thompson said. "You don't dismantle it, then put it in the garage."

On the public memorial planned for this summer:

Details on the public celebration of Hunter Thompson's life are still open, but Winkel Thompson referenced his proclivity for a bit of cross-dressing. The event could include music, readings and, she said, "lots of lipstick."