After the death of Grandpa, the funeral plans began. My aunts and uncle helped Grandma make the plans. As it turns out, all of Grandpa's children, grandchildren, and most of his great-grandchildren made it to Idaho for the funeral. Since most of the hotels were booked because of graduation, we had to scramble for places to stay. Dad, Mom, myself, Brit, Jeremy, Sid, and Wyatt stayed in the house of a friend of Grandma. The viewing was on Friday, May 9th. Even though the weather wasn't very nice, the turnout was. As a tribute to Grandpa, a great slide show was shown. There were also two tables of "memorabilia" type things such as Grandpa's draft card, tools, hats, and a bowl of lemon drops. The next day there was a viewing at the church followed by his funeral. Renee gave a great tribute to Grandpa. It was both touching and humorous. Uncle Doug gave a great talk about eternal life. The pall bearers were all the male grandchildren, which I found very touching. At the graveside, there were military honors. I had never seen a military funeral before Grandpa's. It was so touching. To see the men salute Grandpa's casket, the presentation of the flag to Grandma, and the gun salute was amazing. I have to wonder if my father will want military honors at his own funeral (which won't be for another 50 or so years.) Grandpa's casket passed great-grandma's grave, which is the first funeral I remember going to.
After the graveside service, we went back to the church for lunch. The little kids ran around and we ate food prepared by the Relief Society members of Grandma's ward. After we ate, the grandchildren of Harold and Glenna went outside and had their picture taken. Honesty, I can't remember the last time we were all together. Even though it was a sad occasion, it was nice to see everyone. After the lunch, John, Jen, Lauren, and I headed back to Utah. Since the next day was Mother's Day, our family decided to push back out Mother's Day celebration until the next weekend. I will include pictures in my next blog post.
1 comment:
In spite of the reason for our gathering, it was a good day. I was so touched by the military tribute and have wondered of those men understand how meaningful it is to the family members.
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