Text 25407, 154 rader
Skriven 2009-06-27 20:57:02 av hap newsom (1:124/311)
     Kommentar till en text av Ruth Haffly
Ärende: RE: dad
===============
Howdy Ruth!
-> 
-> ->  hn> Sorry for such a brief reply, I'm in Brownsville Tn
-> ->  hn> for today's funeral. The funeral will be in Nutbush
-> 
-> -> OK, hope all went smoothly.  Was there a big meal at he church after?
-> -> I've contributed to several of those over the years.
-> 
->  hn> All went very smoothly, a wonderful service
->  hn> followed by a masonic rite of burial performed
->  hn> by a group of very good old freinds. Lots of
->  hn> relatives were present including his sister
->  hn> Ruth who came up from Florida. At the end
-> 
-> Good, I presume there was was a military component (flag presentation to
-> your mom, etc) as well.  And now I see why you remember my name so 
well.
-> (G)
-> 
The South Carolina service had the flag
presentation, and the 21 gun salute
and one of Pop's old friends played
taps. The local fire dept (Pop started
it and was the first fire captain and
bought the first fire truck himself) 
did a "Last Call" honerary and gave
Mom a Firefighter's flag as well. I missed
that service but the one here in Tenn
was tough enough...I have a hard 
time hearing taps in a graveyard.
And yes...your name is easy 
to remember...I just have to 
remember to NOT type Aunt
in front of it!(grin)
-> 
->  hn> of the funeral ceremony a flock of white doves
->  hn> was released, then an additional lone dove was
->  hn> released. It joined the circling flock above and
->  hn> the entire flock circled the cemetary and then
->  hn> flew off together, it was very touching and
-> 
-> Pretty; they must have had hours of training to do that.
->
White homing pigeons I think. A 
good PR thing for the funeral home
as it does make a lasting emotional
message for the family. It sure did
for me.
-> 
->  hn> beautiful. Afterwards we went to a local restaurant
->  hn> for a buffet brunch. A small "shrine" had been
->  hn> set up with pictures and articles written about
->  hn> Pop. After that concluded we all went back
-> 
-> Nice way of remembering; I've seen that in the foyer of churches some
-> times.  It's fun when there are baby and very young childhood pictures,
-> especially when you've only known the person as an adult.
->
Yep, lots of folks were surprised to see
my dad without a beard..he's had one
since he retired from the Airforce.
My nephew's daughter (3 years old)
said "That's NOT POPPA, his face
is naked!" At three she's not fully
aware of what happened but she
knows her Poppa has gone to 
heaven where (she says) he'll
be "fixing things that get 
broke" 
-> 
->  hn> to our respective homes/hotels/motels for
->  hn> a bit of rest before going back to one of
->  hn> my aunt's home for dinner and "visiting".
-> 
-> Catching up on the years.  We got to see one of our nieces we'd not seen
-> in 9 years.  She now has 4 children; the youngest is 5 days younger than
-> Sarah.
->
For me it was meeting some of
my cousin's wives for the first 
time. 
 
-> 
->  hn> My mom has been very strong and composed.
->  hn> We all have had our "moments" but all in all
->  hn> it was much more of a celebration of his life
->  hn> than a mourning his death.
-> 
-> 
-> Good.  Is there a military widows group in the area where your mom
-> lives?  I knew of one at Fort Huachuca; from what I read, they were
-> really good helping the newly widowed, no matter how old/young. It might
-> help your mom to look into a group like that.
->
I don't know, I'm sure Mom does
and if she wants to participate 
she may.
 
-> -> When do you head back to the north wet?  We're leaving here on 
Monday
-> -> but won't get home until Friday.
-> 
->  hn> Many are leaving tomorrow (saturday) morning
->  hn> I'll be staying until Sunday, then on Sunday I
->  hn> will be going to Memphis where I'll spend the night
-> 
-> Going to the bbq place?  We've reverted back to our original plan of
-> leaving Tuesday, still planning to get back on Friday.
->
Bozo's? I'm seriously thinking about it..
went to a BBQ place tonight with my 
nephew, his wife and 3 year old...what
a cutie she is! 
-> 
->  hn> at a cousin's home and fly west on Monday
->  hn> morning.
->  hn> It will be good to be home but it has
->  hn> been a great experience seeing relatives
-> 
-> I know, even seeing some (of Steve's side) that I'd not seen in a while.
-> Rachel and Deborah saw some of their cousins & Robert got to know some
-> that were close to his age.  Most everybody thinks that he looks just
-> like his grandpa (Steve).
->
I've been getting a lot of 
"You look JUST like your dad!"
while I'm here as well.
-> 
->  hn> that I have not seen (in some cases)
->  hn> in more than 20 years.
-> 
-> I know what you mean; we've not seen some of ours in that long or
-> longer.  My brothers are starting to try to set up a family reunion
-> picnic for next summer to celebrate my parents 60th anniversary.  Labor
-> Day week end was suggested but that one woouldn't fit school schedules
-> easily; Steve has suggested July 4th week end.
-> 
My family has the longest running
family reunion (and camp meeting)
in the USA..it's been ongoing since
1826 but it's held near here
in Tabernacle Tenn...in August....
and NO WAY am I going to subject
myself to this weather if I have a 
choice about it.!
Do a google search on 
"Taylors of tabernacle" and 
you'll find several good references.
chat with you soon!
hap (who will likely visit
tabernacle tomorrow to see
more of the family graves.) 
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