Farewell to a Hero

The details that need to be taken care of after a loved one passes, can be very overwhelming. My mom, who has been a rock through these many months of extreme stress and sleepless nights, got very sick after my dad passed away. That made the next few days of making funeral arrangements extra challenging. We had two viewings to attend. Many friends and family came to show their love and support. My mom did an amazing job of getting everything together and the funeral and burial were very meaningful. Stephen made a memorial video that highlighted my dad's lifetime with photos. I think he would have been pleased with everything we did to show our love and respect. My brother, Jonathan, spoke at the funeral. My oldest sister, Christine delivered the eulogy and I read a poem that I had written. A few of my dad's friends also spoke, one of them was a former missionary companion. The eagle scouts of the family sang one of his favorite songs and the grand kids sang a few others. It was a beautiful service.

We followed the casket out the door located at the front of the chapel. Ariel had told me that a few months ago when she was at church with my mom and dad, that my mom had tried to wheel my dad out that same front door. He said he didn't want her to take him out that door because it was the "funeral door." After the funeral, when we were outside she came up to me in tears and reminded me that we had just come out the "funeral door." It's a strange experience to follow the casket of your loved one out the door and watch it be loaded into the hearse. At the moment, it's hard to believe that this could be real. It's almost as if you are watching a scene from someone else's life because you know it can't be your life. It just doesn't feel real.

We followed the hearse to the Centerville Cemetery. Two soldiers saluted the flag draped casket as it was unloaded into the hands of loving sons and sons-in-law. A solitary bag piper stood under the trees and played his haunting tunes as we gathered around the burial site. My brother, Mark-David, dedicated the grave. The soldiers did their gun salute and the flag was folded as "Taps" played on the bugle. It was a very somber moment when the soldier presented the flag and the shot gun shells to my widowed mother. The bag piper played a final tune, standing still for a few moments, then turned and walked away. The music got quieter and quieter until it faded away to nothing.

The family went back to the church and my mom's ward had made lunch for us. Todd's cousin flew all the way from Georgia and back again in the same day to attend the funeral of a man he had never met. This really meant a lot to us.

"Life is eternal, and love is immortal, and death is only a horizon, and a horizon is nothing save the limit of our sight."

- Rossiter Worthington Raymond