Longtime No See Relatives

The one thing a sad time does is bring family together. My mother's only sibling/sister, Julia was unable to come as were her children. I know they wanted to be there, but that is not always possible. Geraldine, from mom's side of the family, did come, but unfortunately I did not get an opportunity to get a picture of her and only saw her briefly after the memorial service.

Several members of dad's side were able to come and were a great comfort to him. Our church held a luncheon for us prior to the memorial service, to ensure that we would eat. I am so glad they did as I am sure most of would not have eaten lunch otherwise. I was able to get some pictures there of some of those that attended as I rarely get to see them, since they all live in Louisiana.

This is the wonderful spread the Ladies at Southwayside Baptist put on for us.

Pictured is my brother, Gary (on opp. side of table) and Raymond.

Dad's brothers: Melvin, Willis and Shelby

Uncle Shelby's family:

Front Row L to R: Gale, Debbie, Shelby, Juanita

Back Row: Mark, Raymond (Debbie's husband), Curtis

Uncle Melvin and his wife Aunt Norma Ruth

L to R: Raymond (Joan's DH), Joan, Uncle Willis

My sister Melanie and her clan

1st Row: Ronnie (Tiffany's DH), Tiffany, Jennifer

Back Row: Melanie, Jimmy (her DH) and Brandon

The grandkids (taken after the service at home):

Front Row: Emi, Frieda, Jennifer, Tiffany & Ronnie

Back Row: Andy, Chris, Brandon, Mikey

(George had to go back to the hotel with his wife, Mandy and Carma

as they were not feeling well)

Remember in the earlier post about mom, I told you how we got dad to the hospital to see mom (twice). Well, here is the proof that we transported him in the back of a work van. Only our family would come up with this - despite the seriousness of the situation, you had to laugh at this and of course the second time we did it I just had to get a picture to prove we had done it.

Now for the memorial service we did hire NETI van to pick him up and take him and bring him back home, but he had refused to let us do this to get him to the hospital and demanded that we get him there and I am so glad we did. He needed to see her as he just couldn't grasp (or didn't want to) what we were telling her about her condition. Once he saw her he knew what we had been trying to explain to him, but he needed to see it for himself and have the opportunity to say goodbye to her.