It was a quick trip to Pleasant Hill IL. We left home at 7:00 pm on Tuesday and arrive there at 12:15 pm Wednesday afternoon. The family visitation was Wednesday night and there were a lot of people who came - people who had known her for a long time and a couple of the workers from the nursing home came (she had only been there since April of this year). Todd got to see a few people he hadn't seen for a long time - a couple gentlemen who used to farm the family farm outside of Pleasant Hill (one of their sons now farms it). There were also a lot of the Red Hat ladies who came. Kay, the lady who helped Grandma for years was there, also. I had spent some time with them when I was at Grandma's in early September, and Todd and I also went out for supper with them and Grandma on October 3, when we went to get her to take her to Falls City for Nel's funeral. Kay and her husband Gordon were very close with Grandma and I think Kay will probably be helping Larry with things for a while to come. Poor Kay will have to find something to occupy her time now that Grandma is gone. They used to talk many times a day and Kay had not been able to see Grandma since we had gone out to eat on the 3rd. They were on a trip when Grandma got back to Pleasant Hill and she hadn't made it to Pittsfield to see her yet. Kay was who the nursing home called Tuesday morning when they were getting ready to take Grandma to the emergency room. She was also the one the Dr. told that Grandma passed away. :( Apparently Grandma started feeling bad during breakfast Tuesday morning, and later told the nurses at the home that she thought she should go to the emergency room. The Dr. said when she arrived, her blood pressure was very low and they couldn't get a pulse. Rena had told us MANY times while we were in Falls City that she didn't like being in the nursing home. One good thing is that her last week of life was spent with family - both at the funeral for Nel, but also at the wedding of Josh and Ruth. I'm sure the trip was very hard on her.
So anyway, here are some pictures of our trip to Pleasant Hill. (You can also look back at this post to see some pictures from my trip there early in September of this year.)
This is Larry's favorite picture of his parents
The rose in this picture is from Gus - Kay and Gordon's little dog who LOVED Rena (and the feeling was mutual)
Rena and McKenna - taken last Christmas in Falls City
These pictures were of her adventures with the "Red Hat Mamas"
Flowers from the "Red Hat Mamas"
The Red Hat ladies all wore their Red Hats to the funeral
This is the view from Grandma's dining room window - it looks down on the church where her funeral was. Kate commented how odd it was that we could see the house so well from the church - especially when her casket was being moved from the church to the hearse.
She was buried next to Homer, who died January 24, 1997 (just a few months before I met Todd). At least they are together now. This was the third time I had been to the cemetery in the last 6 weeks, she took me up there during my trip and then we stopped with Todd when we went to get her before Nel's funeral.
Her funeral was very nice. The pastor who left their church years ago came back from Tulsa OK. He had also done Homer's funeral. He had some really nice things to say about her. He said that he always knew you're not supposed to have favorites in the ministry, but she was one of his. He also said she always told him that anything he had to say he could say in 15 or 20 minutes. lol He also told a few funny stories about both Homer and Rena. He had a hard time getting through it without breaking down. When he read her obituary (which can be seen here),
we all broke down when he got to the part about her being preceded in death by her daughter-in-law, Nelda Godwin. The current pastor of her church also spoke and said at the beginning of his part "What's better than one Baptist minister speaking at a funeral? TWO !!!!" He said he could just see Rena rolling her eyes at that. LOL He also read this poem - "The Dash".
After the family visitation on Wednesday, Megan, Kate, Cynthia (my sister-in-law) and I went through Rena's jewelry. She had some of them marked if they were received for special occasions. I brought a few things home and decided to wear one of Rena's necklace to the funeral and Todd wore one of Homer's tie-tacks.
While we were gone on Wednesday, Tab and Brian were married at the Justice of the Peace (the same one who married Sam and Jason). I was sad to miss it, but Tab and Sam's dad was here from Pennsylvania so at least he was there. They both have pictures on their Facebook pages and I haven't tried to get any of them so I can post them here. Maybe tomorrow I'll see if I can figure it out.
Anyway, Todd and I are going to try to relax for the rest of the day. It's pretty nice outside, so we're going to go sit in the backyard. Todd said he had a hard time yesterday - on his way home from work he told himself "I should call Mom", but then realized he can't do that anymore. We both have been having short spurts of sadness, but hopefully they will come fewer and further between as time goes on.
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