My Dad's Army Air Corps Uniform. I had it out to get ready to ship to my brother in Florida who requested it. Dad was a Staff Sergeant.
At the luncheon after the funeral, with my girls. They took good care of me those couple of weeks. :-)
With my brother and sister.
My brother and some of his family (not all could make it) are with us here, including his wife Lisa, his youngest daughter Olivia (who always had a special bond with her grandpa), and her son Daniel (the really little guy at the end of the table!).
Some cousins who stayed close to us and Dad over the years: Sally, Kathy, Reene, and Jackie, and spouses. They're the ones that would call Dad "Uncle Bee" - which I had always assumed was because of his initial . . . Uncle Bill = Uncle B. But I learned that was not the case! Rather, when you handwrite "Bill" with loopy L's, it looks like the word "Bee!" So that's where the name came from.
My sister and son Rob in the background, but also some good friends from St. Mark's: Bill and Dottie Atz, and Mrs. Buss. So glad they were able to come!
After the luncheon, my sister and I went back to the cemetery to visit some of the graves of other family members. Here are my Dad's parents, William Sr. and Eleanor Douthwaite, along with (I think) her parents.
We were surprised when we returned home from the funeral to find this blanket in our mailbox. The people at the Sunrise (my Dad's Memory Care) sent it to us. Such kindness, brought a tear or two . . .
As my wife and I were waiting for the necessary folks to come and tend the body of my father, in the wee hours of that Monday morning, we were thinking of what we might get the Sunrise as a token of our appreciation to them for caring for Dad and to remember him by. We came across this metal sign and ordered it in those wee hours. Why this sign? Well, the past few months, my Dad had taken to saying "happy!" quite a bit. It caught on with the aides and kind of became something they said. So we bought this for them to hang in the unit as a memory of him.
My wife and I went over to the Sunrise yesterday to give it to them. I hadn't wanted to go last week - not yet. But with my wife leaving for a trip today and my having a trip next week, we thought we'd better go. So we did, and it was good. The ladies all greeted us so warmly and were delighted with the sign. We had some good hugs and smiles and I think it helped with the healing. We didn't see all the ladies that took care of Dad, though, so we'll have to go back to see them . . . and to see where they decided to hang the sign. :-)
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