Memorial-Letter_ to_a

The celebration of life (for Dad) was beautiful. There were almost 200 people there. The outpour of love of family and friends was tremendous. And there were several there that none of us knew. They told us Dad had helped them at one time or another. It was very sweet. It’s always nice to see out of town/state family and friends even, at these times. My Uncle Clair (Dad's only living brother) and his wife, Aunt Barbara, came from Meridian, Idaho for the services. It was good to have them with us. Dad's sister, Aunt Jeri Harris, who is going to be 90 this year just could not physically make the trip but, of course, sent her love to all of us. Linda, Gordie's wife, came from Wisconsin and so did Randy from Pasco and his mom, Aunt Kay. My cousin Jeff came to represent the Oregon Harvey side. My cousin Doug Reeder from Oregon City officiated. What a tuff job he had to ‘remember’ Dad in front of everyone. He broke a couple of times but did a fantastic job. His mom and Dad are with Mom now. They came last week from Molalla, Oregon to be with her. They are a big help. And then all the family and friends here were just great.

The graveside was beautiful. When the commander came up to talk to us, he said he was from and in-charge of the ROTC at Corona High School. Mom said, “Well that's were both my husband and I graduated from.” He yelled, "Get out! Really?" This was the first time he had officiated a ceremony for someone from Corona. He thought it was quite a coincident- but we know God doesn't do coincidents :>) We told him Dad would have been so tickled and honored by that fact alone. It was a beautiful ceremony. And again we had family come back to the house.

I'll see if I can scan the picture that we used on the memorial bulletin; it’s really nice of Dad and his tractor. The bulletin was all personalized by the church. It was just really special for us. They did a great job. I have a few photos of the military ceremony. The folding of the flag was so moving. And the photo of the cadet presenting the flag to Mom is very touching. He had tears on his cheeks, too. I lost it then. The rifle soldiers looked so awesome on the crest of the hill with the sunlight behind them. I had to get a photo of them, too.

The pall bears are David (son), Tony (son-in-law), and grandsons Clint and Travis Koons, Nicholas Harvey, and Robert Whitman. My aunt Zella (my granddad's sister, a mortician and also the mayor of Upland) always used to say that being a pall bearer, carrying a person to their final resting place, was the last good thing you could do for a person. It is a tremendous honor to be one of the pall bearers.

We both know that God has a wonderful sense of humor and so I'll share this little story. You see, for as long as I could remember, 'specially growing up, whenever we were all getting ready for church or something special, Mom would be harping on Dad to hurry up or he was going to be late. Her famous prediction was, "You are going to be late to your own funeral, Howard!" Well as things go, we were all at the cemetery waiting for family and friends plus the mortuary hearse to get there. People came and we all waited and waited. Most of the people were there when the hearse finally came. As we approached the hearse, they started apologizing to me and David for being late. But before they could continue, Dave and I looked at each other and busted out laughing. "Mom was right!!" Dad was late for his own funeral.

Thanks for all the prayers. Boy, we sure needed them, still do. It got a bit easier each day before the services, but maybe cuz we were running around to get it all ready. After a time of nothing to do, we may need to do a bit more grieving. I don’t know. It’s going to be tough to not be able to just call him with a question or have him so handy. That’s going to be real tough.