Dad's Wake - Pics
Dec. 4th, 2006 10:59 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
the13thfairySo Dad's Wake/Memorial service was last night at Greyhaven. And lemme just get this said right now - I looked STUNNING. Ok - now back to the report...
A small ton of family came down from Lake County: My Brother Daniel and his girlfriend Meg, his mother Carli, his half brother Trevor. I like Meg a lot - she's a hoot.
My uncle came up from Santa Cruz and brought a small jar of Dad's ashes - which I kept when packing up the memory altar. He also brought a couple other items (a sketch protrait of dad and a couple of appreciation plaques he received).
One of my godmothers (who knew my mom and dad wAaaaaay back when) managed to attend even though it was very last minute. It's been a decade since I've seen her and I swear she's got a portrait in the attic cause she's looking amazing.
Several old friends of Dad's were there, including the Greyhaven crowd (cause they were heavily involved in Dad's marriage to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
jauncort's mother).
We had a time when we went around the room toasting him and each person talked about him. I think I talked the longest - but many people wanted to know howjauncort and I found out we were sisters, and how I finally found him. And well, apparently I am not too shabby in the storytelling vein cause it seemed to go well, and they are not stories that are as short as you might think.
I went out and bought a tri-fold carboard freestanding display and scanned and printed pictures like mad on Saturday. I managed to have pictures of Dad that covered a good chunk of everything from him at not quite 2 years old (Labor Day 1946) up through Fathers Day 2006. Granted there were holes - a BIG gap between roughly 10 years old and 25 and another between 25 and 50, but I did what I could. And people DID go look at it. I even included some of the shots thatjauncort sent me from her parent's wedding in very late 1969, or the time gap would have been MUCH wider.
I have just about talked Daniel and Meg into coming to visit for New Years so we get some time together (since I didn't meet him until he was 19 - there's still catching up to do).
Here are a couple pics from last night.
The Memory Altar that was set up:
Me, my Uncle Don (Dad's little brother) and my brother Daniel.
If you're wondering why Daniel's face is a bit off, it's because he's had not ONE but TWO brain tumors (benign) and multiple surgeries, and you can only go in and open up someone's head so many times. The first tumor was when he was 12 and they took it out through the ear canal - so he's deaf on the left side (if you meet him and talk to him, please be nice and talk on his right side). They also kept him in bed and on fluids too long - so he had some complications from that which led to him not being as tall as he should have been (his back and is messed up pretty good - he CAN stand up straight but it hurts a lot). When they took the first one out they apparently didn't get all of it and didn't do any radiation treatment or anything so 12 years later it grew back, and they took it out again, and it was the size of a softball. *wow* So yeah - his head has been through a lot. He's going back to school to become an RN - which I think is cool. He's already an EMT and licensed ambulance driver, and has a history of volunteering with local fire departments. He's a pretty neat guy.
A small ton of family came down from Lake County: My Brother Daniel and his girlfriend Meg, his mother Carli, his half brother Trevor. I like Meg a lot - she's a hoot.
My uncle came up from Santa Cruz and brought a small jar of Dad's ashes - which I kept when packing up the memory altar. He also brought a couple other items (a sketch protrait of dad and a couple of appreciation plaques he received).
One of my godmothers (who knew my mom and dad wAaaaaay back when) managed to attend even though it was very last minute. It's been a decade since I've seen her and I swear she's got a portrait in the attic cause she's looking amazing.
Several old friends of Dad's were there, including the Greyhaven crowd (cause they were heavily involved in Dad's marriage to
jauncort's mother).We had a time when we went around the room toasting him and each person talked about him. I think I talked the longest - but many people wanted to know how
jauncort and I found out we were sisters, and how I finally found him. And well, apparently I am not too shabby in the storytelling vein cause it seemed to go well, and they are not stories that are as short as you might think.I went out and bought a tri-fold carboard freestanding display and scanned and printed pictures like mad on Saturday. I managed to have pictures of Dad that covered a good chunk of everything from him at not quite 2 years old (Labor Day 1946) up through Fathers Day 2006. Granted there were holes - a BIG gap between roughly 10 years old and 25 and another between 25 and 50, but I did what I could. And people DID go look at it. I even included some of the shots that
jauncort sent me from her parent's wedding in very late 1969, or the time gap would have been MUCH wider.I have just about talked Daniel and Meg into coming to visit for New Years so we get some time together (since I didn't meet him until he was 19 - there's still catching up to do).
Here are a couple pics from last night.
The Memory Altar that was set up:
Me, my Uncle Don (Dad's little brother) and my brother Daniel.
If you're wondering why Daniel's face is a bit off, it's because he's had not ONE but TWO brain tumors (benign) and multiple surgeries, and you can only go in and open up someone's head so many times. The first tumor was when he was 12 and they took it out through the ear canal - so he's deaf on the left side (if you meet him and talk to him, please be nice and talk on his right side). They also kept him in bed and on fluids too long - so he had some complications from that which led to him not being as tall as he should have been (his back and is messed up pretty good - he CAN stand up straight but it hurts a lot). When they took the first one out they apparently didn't get all of it and didn't do any radiation treatment or anything so 12 years later it grew back, and they took it out again, and it was the size of a softball. *wow* So yeah - his head has been through a lot. He's going back to school to become an RN - which I think is cool. He's already an EMT and licensed ambulance driver, and has a history of volunteering with local fire departments. He's a pretty neat guy.
