My Uncle Ross had battled cancer off
and on for I don’t know how many years.
His last time in the hospital was majorly hard on his wife and children
– but he kept up a positive attitude, I believe for their sake.
When he left the hospital, he was told
that he would have no more than a year left on earth. (Probably not in those exact words – but you
get the gist)
My cousin, Michelle, had sent out a
request for an early “Christmas in July” celebration – hoping that we would all
enjoy one last celebration with Uncle Ross and have those treasured memories as
we had for mom. Only her request came as
a plea on my part: “LaTiesha is moving to Oregon. Let’s have our Christmas early this year
before she goes” She didn’t want to say what she really meant “before Dad goes”
The date was set up for June 14th
– though not everyone would be able to attend.
I don’t think we’ve ever had a “Christmas in July” party in which all of
us were there. And yet when we had
celebrated in December, I don’t remember anyone NOT being there – even if it
was just to put in an appearance (which seemed to become more popular as the
family grew)
The celebration for this year would take place at the same time when my family attended Church – which is why I had announced in my ward that the 7th would probably be my last week (I was still tired from bus trip mentioned in my last post; wasn’t thinking clearly)
The celebration for this year would take place at the same time when my family attended Church – which is why I had announced in my ward that the 7th would probably be my last week (I was still tired from bus trip mentioned in my last post; wasn’t thinking clearly)
On June 6th I was on the
bus going toward Salt Lake. I had the
option of using my laptop but did not actually make the discovery until the
last leg of the trip, but chose not to deal with it in such tight quarters as
it was. Corey had texted me in the event
that I wasn’t on facebook. Michelle had
messaged family members to let us know that Uncle Ross had chosen not to fight
anymore. Corey had just seen him two
days earlier, and though he had lost a tremendous amount of weight, Corey said
that Uncle Ross seemed to be in good spirits.
Less than two hours later I received
another text. Uncle Ross had
passed. At that point I didn’t have (nor
expect) any details about the funeral.
It may not have been until Monday that I learned that there would be a
viewing on Thursday and the funeral would be on Saturday, the 13th. So of course we wouldn’t be having the
“Christmas in July” on the following Sunday.
Roland had graduated from his collage
courses and already had his diploma in hand.
But he had signed up to walk across the stage in a graduation ceremony
that same Saturday – an activity that I was never truly excited about to begin
with. I would seriously rather attend a
funeral than a graduation or award ceremony that always seems to drag and make
me feel like death would be an awesome option for ending the many hours I feel
like I spend at said ceremony. But it’s
not like I wished for it to happen just so I’d have an excuse not to go.
Meanwhile, Roland seemed to forget
about it as well as he planned to leave Utah on Friday night after he got off
work to take a load of furniture and packed boxes to Oregon. He didn’t attend either viewing or funeral. He and Bill both work late on Thursday and so
Bill did not go to the viewing either.
Kayla stopped by with their three children and we rode to the viewing address
together.
The viewing, without doubt, is the
most interesting that I’ve ever attended.
Corey would have loved it, I think.
There was a “celebration of life” theme.
Nothing wrong with it – just different.
It wasn’t something that Kayla and I are used to. It just felt irreverent when we first
arrived. I felt like we had walked into
a cocktail party rather than a viewing. But it was a great send-off. Made it easier on my aunt and
cousins – who for the most part, were out mingling amongst the “guests”. Uncle Ross was left in a room by
himself (for the most part). Aunt Fern said it made it so
much easier for her not to be in the same room with his lifeless body.
They had dressed him in golf clothes
and he held a golf ball. Kayla and I
tried to visit with family members while taking turns supervising the children
as Anna wanted to go in one direction and Gary in another and the food wasn’t
as important as they thought.
Anna wanted to go upstairs in a closed
area and Gary wanted to stand near enough to the water to play in it.
BJ was very good, but after a while he wanted to get down and explore as
well. Neither Kayla nor I were willing
to allow that to happen as he could have easily been stepped on. Didn’t seem like a very kid-friendly
environment – but than neither is the traditional viewing that we are used to.
Children acting up or misbehaving seems more noticeable at a viewing than it does at Church
services. But given the amount of volume
level amongst those who had come to pay their respects, their behavior seemed
to be overlooked by everyone except me and Kayla.
I had asked Earl how they had found
the funeral home or made the arrangements. He said that the family had been
introduced to the services after an uncle had died. His mom liked the feeling of “life” as
opposed to the mourning for death. The
family agreed and made the arrangements.
Kayla and I did not stay long as the
kids really needed to removed from the situation at hand. I think all of us were tired.
The Saturday service was really
nice. Three of my cousins gave talks and
shared memories of their dad. Michelle’s
husband played guitar while Corey sang “Landslide”, a song that neither one of
them were familiar with, but I had heard it before. Michelle mentioned that the song had been
chosen as her family doesn’t seem to deal well with change – at least where
death is involved.
Golf balls had been purchased for
mementoes to take for each person who attended the services. One son-in-law works with the police force
and made arrangements for a police (on motorcycles) escort to be with the old
fashion looking Hearst. People may have
seen it and thought there must have been an important person in the
casket. It was indeed a great honor.
After the services were over at the cemetery,
we all threw paper airplanes. A balloon
was tied to one to send on high. Just a
few minutes later many of us returned to the church to have lunch with the
family. I went around and said my
good-byes to all of the family members who had usually turned out for Christmas
dinner. Some who said they couldn’t or
wouldn’t make it to the BBQ for an early July Christmas. It was Uncle Ross’s
final farewell and everyone turned out for it.
And it was great.
Now he is reunited with his mom and
dad and brother and sister. This picture is my dad with Uncle Ross long before
they were my dad and uncle.