The Funeral...

Saturday Neffie would pick up David in the afternoon and Chiara and Marissa in the evening.

Saturday Papa, Andie, Claude and I would make the rounds in preparation for the funeral. Our first stop was Sunset Memorial Gardens Cemetery to sign papers for them to open the grave. Our second stop was Johnson's Funeral Home to finalize the funeral arrangements. The date was set for Friday at 10am for the funeral. Then we were off to Georgetown Florists to select the flowers for the casket and the family. This was an email I sent to Laura regarding the florist experience:

      So, we were at the florist selecting a spray for the casket. My tired started to show when I was trying to explain to the florist our purpose was to order a 'spray for the cactus'. Silly moi!!!

I'm ever so grateful we made so many of the preparations ahead of this time. We were gone about 3 hours to get these things accomplished. It was definitely worth the pre-planning.

I needed to create the program for Mimi's funeral and I needed to finish the eulogy. Papa had written some notes for the eulogy. Andie typed those notes up for me while I worked on the program. Then I took the eulogy and began adding the memories gathered from the grandchildren to Papa's notes.

Andie also started collecting pictures from my stash of digital photos and putting them on a thumb drive to go in a picture frame. We would enjoy these family pictures in our home with all the family there to see and remember.

Papa would came out to the house Saturday afternoon and spent time with the family as they arrived.

Sunday I arrived for sacrament meeting and did not see Papa there. Eventually I found Neffie and her three kids and went to sit with them. But Papa was not there. I gave Neffie my phone and asked her to call Papa and be sure he was okay. I was trying to talk with people prior to sacrament meeting about things needed for the funeral. Neffie called Papa only to learn he thought it was Monday and was within 10 minutes of going to Sadieville for the day. Papa changed to his Sunday clothes and joined us a church.

Claude went to visit the Owingsville Ward Sunday morning. Andie joined Michael in Shelbyville to get the Mini's. Michael had to work Monday and would come to the house Monday night.

Nissa, Todd and Jacob set out from Michigan and would arrive Sunday afternoon. Mike and Jonny would fly in and arrive Sunday afternoon.

One of the positive sides of a funeral is the ability to enjoy time to visit as a family. Our family is scattered all over the place and many of these cousins had not seen each other in 10 or more years. Our home was full of family and all the catching up we could get accomplished in a few days.

Monday I had to go to the florist to finalize the flower arrangements. I sent Laura this eMail about Bailey's input with the flowers:

      As I left this morning I was explaining to Bailey that I was going to the florist to finish work on the flowers for Mimi's funeral. Little cherub looked at me and said, "Get roses. You have to get roses." I told the florist this when he was showing me the flowers they ordered in. He had 2 shades of pink and I had told him I wanted the lighter pink. He popped off a single short stem from the lighter pink for me to take to Bailey.

Bailey was very happy to receive her pink rose when I returned home.

Monday afternoon I determined I would print the program at home instead of using the copier at the church. As I was printing, Hayden joined me. This was in my eMail to Laura about Hayden and the program:

      I decided to print the program at home. As I was doing that this morning Hayden came down to watch. I have 3 pictures on the program. The front cover has Mimi's face shot. The inside cover has a picture of Papa in his overalls dancing with Mimi in my breakfast room with Tiny at their feet. The back cover has a little picture of Papa holding Mimi's hand at the nursing home. Hayden and I talked about Mimi being able to dance and looked at the pictures. Then my precious boy looked at me and asked, "Could I pass out the programs?" I smiled and assured him that would be fine with me if it was okay with his mom. He bounded upstairs and came back with a big grin stating it was okay. I should have thought of asking but I'm so happy he thought of it and asked. I don't know how long he will last at the job but whatever he does will be fine and I'm sure Mimi will be smiling.

2pm Monday afternoon Neffie, Chiara and Marissa joined me at the funeral home to dress Mimi. We were assisted by Mary Walker and Cheri Risher. It was a tender experience. Neffie offered the prayer. Then Cheri directed us as to what to dress Mimi in step-by-step. Mimi's make-up was done so well and her hair was perfect. She looked just wonderful when we left.

Monday afternoon was spent just enjoying a house full of family. Junie, Steve, Kimmie and Mike joined us. That made a total of 21 family members plus Tiny, Papa's dog, in the house. We lots of fun, some games going on, tons of conversation and it was so good for Papa.

Tuesday morning Claude and I were at the Church by 8am to receive the flowers. Papa had asked for donations to Alzheimer's in lieu of flowers. This allowed for just a few flowers to take care of. The funeral home arrived at 8:30am and placed Mimi's casket at the front of the chapel. Bishop Jenkins made sure the flowers were in just the right place. I placed pictures of Mimi and Papa at the beginning of their marriage and from December 1992 on the tables in each foyer. We had flowers from Bonnie between one set of pictures and gardenias from Junie between the other set of pictures.

 

From 9am to 9:50am we had a visitation time for people to come and pay their respects. We were richly blessed by the nursing home staff coming during this time to see Papa and Mimi. Glen would come and stay for the funeral. Friends from our years of service in the church in Kentucky also joined us. Friends from Claude's role as Mayor of Sadieville also came to the visitation. We were surrounded by many friends as well as our family.

At 9:50am the family went to the Relief Society room where Steve Gulbrandsen offered the family prayer.

Then we all went back into the chapel for the funeral which started at 10am.

After the funeral the family left first and went to the foyer. The casket was taken from the chapel to the hearse. At this point I had Papa in our car to take him to the cemetery with Claude and me. Claude had backed the car in so Papa was able to watch the casket begin brought from the chapel to the hearse. His eyes filled with tears but his words were full of joy as he saw Hayden come out with Michael, Michael let Hayden get in line ahead of him and place his hand on the railing of the casket. Hayden was now being a pall bearer with his dad. Papa was beside himself with joy and wanting a picture. I was rummaging for my camera and missed the shot. We were able to get a picture at the cemetery when Hayden again became a pall bearer with his dad. So very sweet.

The funeral procession wound through the Kentucky horse country to Sunset Memorial Gardens in Frankfort, Kentucky. This made for a longer route but for our family from out-of-town this was a beautiful drive even with all the drought we are having.

The grave was dedicated by Claude after all the family arrived. Afterwards a picture was taken of Papa and his girls (from left to right: Sandi Christensen, June Gulbrandsen, Papa and Neffie Hurst).

Then we allowed the grand children to take flowers from Mimi's casket spray. The cemetary does not allow flowers except in the vases that are on the monuments. We would pack the flowers into Michael and Andie's van and take them home with us.

We went back to the church were the Relief Society sisters had prepared an amazing lunch for us. Michael was hoping for funeral potatoes, a Mormon staple, and he got his wish. After lunch we took the leftovers home and had them for dinner that evening.

The afternoon was spent enjoying family time. Junie and Steve and their two kids had to leave by 4pm. We made sure we took a few family photos on the deck before the Gulbrandsen's departed. Michael would also leave Tuesday evening to be to work on Wednesday.

Wednesday morning the Michigan contingent would leave right after the Marx mobile left. Neffie would come by with Marissa and Jonny. She would leave Marissa withand Lexie us and she and Jonny headed to the airport. Mike, Chiara and David would visit Papa at his apartment before coming by the house. Chiara was going to ride to the airport with Marissa to help with Lexie as much as possible. Mike and David would ride to the airport together.

We took Chiara and Marissa and Lexie to the airport at about noon. After dropping them off we went to Red Lobster for a nice sitdown dinner. Then Claude took me home where I went straight to bed for a nice 2 hour nap.