Today we drove over to Ames for the family visitation and then the funeral tomorrow. I have never really liked the whole idea of visitations or wakes but I understand the human need and how important it is to the healing process.
I also do not like the long line you have to wait in, only to talk with a half-dozen people you don’t know so you can get to the one of two you do know. Well Jeanne and Mary decided (on their own with no influence from me) there would be no lines.
Everyone would just mingle and it would be more of a celebration of John’s life. The room had some wonderful flowers placed at the front (including a beautiful arrangement from my Ohnward family) of the room along with a photo of John, his old trombone and the original case it came in (more about that.) His favorite Scottish red hat and his hat from the war with an American flag that was appropriately displayed with the military fold.
When John enlisted in the Army they discovered that he had some musical talent including playing the trombone. So after six months of regular soldier duty he was assigned to a military band and spent the rest of the war touring the front lines playing music for the troops. Although he was a veteran he chose not to have a military presence at his funeral. He also did not want anyone giving any tributes to him. Just a simple homily.
On his trombone case he would write the name of all the cities and towns he played in during his tour of duty. John still played the trombone throughout his life in a small ensemble and often times at church. He loved music so much and was in the choir, barbershop and other choral groups.
Oh by the way Jeanne got his trombone in 6th grade and played it all through high school in the band until she finally dropped out-of-band her Senior year.
I took a picture of the trombone display with my blackberry but I do not have access to it today so perhaps I will post the image later.
After the visitation we went back to Jay’s home and had a dinner and a lot of remembering. Everyone was there with the exception of Ben, Angie, and Josh. Ben was on call today so they will be over Monday. The image above is Jeanne trying to take a photo of the cousins. In the time it took her to take one image, I had composed, focused and shot 8 images. 🙂
Above is Tim, Mark, and David. This is the shot that Jeanne was trying to take a picture of.
Oh one other thing. You remember last week the Photographer who posted a couple of my Christmas images on his blog? Well he posted an article about Christmas and the spirit of helping people.
I wrote the above comment on his blog about a book that I’m reading. One of the suggestions the book makes is finding something positive to say to one person a day. It can be by e-mail, voice, or some other form of communication.
He read my comment and decided to not only buy the book himself but also to make his readers aware of it. Pretty neat. I would highly recommend this book to everyone.
Thanks for checking in.
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