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Memorial Service
Aug. 30th, 2021 05:55 pmSaturday was my father's memorial service.
I dressed in my good dark suit at my apartment, though I carried the jacket and tie in a bag just in case I didn't need them. I had a few bad minutes when it turned out I had at no point during the last year verified that my second good shoe was behind my first good shoe as I assumed every time I saw that shoe. It turned up about three feet away. Got a ride up to Sandstone with my brother and his wife.
We had a light family dinner as people arrived, with all the preparations that had to be made. Then it was off to the Osprey Wilds Audubon Center. Dad was a supporter of the Audubon Society, and had played on that land as a child when it was a doctor's summer home estate and Grandpa Jamison was called in to help fix the place up. They even have some of his carvings on display there.
It had stormed ferociously early in the afternoon, but the clouds were parting as we got to the venue, and by the time the service started and we were all set up, the sun was shining. Dad lived in Sandstone most of his life, so there was a good crowd from in town, and all his surviving siblings managed to make it there. Masks were highly suggested, and most folks complied, though a couple were nose goblins, and my youngest uncle point-blank wouldn't wear one (he is, however, vaccinated) and came in a mostly-clean t-shirt and jeans.
We had the minister from our family church (Dad and Mom having been very active until advancing years and medical problems made it difficult for them to attend regularly). I read I Corinthians 13, one of Dad's favorite passages (and his father's before him) not choking up too badly, and we sang some of his favorite hymns. A last minute addition was the siblings sharing stories--caught the minister off guard and Mom had to remind her that they'd talked about this before.
After the main ceremony, we went outside for the military honors. (Dad being a Korean War veteran.) The rifle salute startled a squirrel, which went running through the mourners. Most of the honor guard from the American Legion were Vietnam vets, and one of them remembered Dad acting as one of the rifle squad for one of his friends' funeral back in the day. This was one of the times I really did choke up.
My nephew's wife missed most of the service as their son is teething, and his wailing kept setting off his slightly older sister's wailing.
Then the immediate family went out to the cemetery for the interment ceremony (Dad was cremated, so just the urn). I finally got to see my grand-nephew in person for the first time, he was calm for this bit. My sister's fellow played another song Dad had requested on his smartphone--I recognized it, but can't find it on Youtube. One of the lyrics is "tell all the refugees they can come home."
Then back to Osprey Wilds for more visiting, and cleaning up the place. My middle niece has gotten a job near my home town, so she was staying with Mom for the rest of the weekend, and my youngest niece rode with us back to the cities to be dropped off at college.
I dressed in my good dark suit at my apartment, though I carried the jacket and tie in a bag just in case I didn't need them. I had a few bad minutes when it turned out I had at no point during the last year verified that my second good shoe was behind my first good shoe as I assumed every time I saw that shoe. It turned up about three feet away. Got a ride up to Sandstone with my brother and his wife.
We had a light family dinner as people arrived, with all the preparations that had to be made. Then it was off to the Osprey Wilds Audubon Center. Dad was a supporter of the Audubon Society, and had played on that land as a child when it was a doctor's summer home estate and Grandpa Jamison was called in to help fix the place up. They even have some of his carvings on display there.
It had stormed ferociously early in the afternoon, but the clouds were parting as we got to the venue, and by the time the service started and we were all set up, the sun was shining. Dad lived in Sandstone most of his life, so there was a good crowd from in town, and all his surviving siblings managed to make it there. Masks were highly suggested, and most folks complied, though a couple were nose goblins, and my youngest uncle point-blank wouldn't wear one (he is, however, vaccinated) and came in a mostly-clean t-shirt and jeans.
We had the minister from our family church (Dad and Mom having been very active until advancing years and medical problems made it difficult for them to attend regularly). I read I Corinthians 13, one of Dad's favorite passages (and his father's before him) not choking up too badly, and we sang some of his favorite hymns. A last minute addition was the siblings sharing stories--caught the minister off guard and Mom had to remind her that they'd talked about this before.
After the main ceremony, we went outside for the military honors. (Dad being a Korean War veteran.) The rifle salute startled a squirrel, which went running through the mourners. Most of the honor guard from the American Legion were Vietnam vets, and one of them remembered Dad acting as one of the rifle squad for one of his friends' funeral back in the day. This was one of the times I really did choke up.
My nephew's wife missed most of the service as their son is teething, and his wailing kept setting off his slightly older sister's wailing.
Then the immediate family went out to the cemetery for the interment ceremony (Dad was cremated, so just the urn). I finally got to see my grand-nephew in person for the first time, he was calm for this bit. My sister's fellow played another song Dad had requested on his smartphone--I recognized it, but can't find it on Youtube. One of the lyrics is "tell all the refugees they can come home."
Then back to Osprey Wilds for more visiting, and cleaning up the place. My middle niece has gotten a job near my home town, so she was staying with Mom for the rest of the weekend, and my youngest niece rode with us back to the cities to be dropped off at college.
