At about the same time as I was clicking the button to publish my last post in which I reported that my uncle Joe was doing much better and was expected to recover, he was in fact having a massive set back. Without warning his heart just stopped. They were able to revive him with CPR but he had been a long time without oxygen and was unresponsive. Tests showed only minimal brain activity. They decided to give him 72 hours to see if he showed any improvement, but he never did. So the heartbreaking decision was made by my mom to turn off his machines and let him go. I cannot imagine how awful that must have been for her and I hope I never have to make a choice like that.
So we found ourselves with another funeral to attend back in Kentucky. This time Kalen stayed behind with Kendall, Lynnsey, and Spencer and Taylor, Kaya and I rode with Timothy in his car. (Kaya is never going to trust us again when it comes to putting her in her car seat!)
The funeral was held on July 17th (my birthday, by the way). (The visitation was the night before which was nice not to have the long day that we had at my grandma's funeral). The service was held right at the gravesite which was actually quite nice I thought and probably the way Joe would have wanted it. We laughed a little bit as we drove into the cemetary and the skies opened up and POURED rain. It was the first funeral I'd ever been to that it rained but we joked that it was Joe's idea because it always rains at funerals in the movies and he was a major movie guy. Luckily, the rain stopped almost as quickly as it started so the actual service was rain-free. We enjoyed a hymn sung by a really talented friend of their family and then the pastor shared some scriptures and reminisced about Joe and his life. I really enjoyed his remarks. He talked about how what you saw with Joe was what you got. He never tried to pretend to be anyone different. He was always friendly to everyone and was quite a fixture around town. He said he used to make his rounds nearly everyday around the town businesses. He'd pop his head in and make his prescence known. His favorite place was the grocery store where he actually worked for a lot of years and would often go to help them out with anything they needed. After the pastor's remarks, he concluded with a prayer. It was a nice service, I thought.
My own memories of Joe are similar to what others said about him. As kids we always loved to see him when we visited. He always had little treats for us but never for all of us at once. He would pull one or two of us aside and give us something that would be our little secret and I remember feeling so special to be singled out. I remember he gave Alison and I our first Barbie dolls when we were really young. My parents were so not happy about that! But we loved those dolls and played with them for years--more than any of our other Barbie's which came later.
As we got older the big treat was a trip to see a show at least once everytime we visited. But that was only a treat for the 12 and older group. I remember going to see The Man From Snowy River 2 the first time he took us to the movies.
I remember Joe laughing a lot. I loved how he would rub his hands together excitedly like he had a big secret he was bursting to tell. And I always thought it was funny how he'd call us "Hot Rod" as kids and my mom and dad were "Ol' Woman" and "Ol' Man".
He didn't have a super easy life. He was born with a cleft lip and palate at a time where surgery could only do so much to repair them. At times his speech could be really difficult to understand And in those days so many things were misunderstood and so many people were excluded from a normal education for things that really had nothing to do with their intelligence. I'm not sure what school was like for him but I know he never attended college. He never married and always lived with my grandparents. But he was one of the most optimistic and truly happy people I've had the pleasure of knowing.
I loved what the people at the town grocery store did in honor of him and it pretty much sums up how I feel too. On their marquis on the store front they wrote:
That's for sure.
So we found ourselves with another funeral to attend back in Kentucky. This time Kalen stayed behind with Kendall, Lynnsey, and Spencer and Taylor, Kaya and I rode with Timothy in his car. (Kaya is never going to trust us again when it comes to putting her in her car seat!)
The funeral was held on July 17th (my birthday, by the way). (The visitation was the night before which was nice not to have the long day that we had at my grandma's funeral). The service was held right at the gravesite which was actually quite nice I thought and probably the way Joe would have wanted it. We laughed a little bit as we drove into the cemetary and the skies opened up and POURED rain. It was the first funeral I'd ever been to that it rained but we joked that it was Joe's idea because it always rains at funerals in the movies and he was a major movie guy. Luckily, the rain stopped almost as quickly as it started so the actual service was rain-free. We enjoyed a hymn sung by a really talented friend of their family and then the pastor shared some scriptures and reminisced about Joe and his life. I really enjoyed his remarks. He talked about how what you saw with Joe was what you got. He never tried to pretend to be anyone different. He was always friendly to everyone and was quite a fixture around town. He said he used to make his rounds nearly everyday around the town businesses. He'd pop his head in and make his prescence known. His favorite place was the grocery store where he actually worked for a lot of years and would often go to help them out with anything they needed. After the pastor's remarks, he concluded with a prayer. It was a nice service, I thought.
My own memories of Joe are similar to what others said about him. As kids we always loved to see him when we visited. He always had little treats for us but never for all of us at once. He would pull one or two of us aside and give us something that would be our little secret and I remember feeling so special to be singled out. I remember he gave Alison and I our first Barbie dolls when we were really young. My parents were so not happy about that! But we loved those dolls and played with them for years--more than any of our other Barbie's which came later.
As we got older the big treat was a trip to see a show at least once everytime we visited. But that was only a treat for the 12 and older group. I remember going to see The Man From Snowy River 2 the first time he took us to the movies.
I remember Joe laughing a lot. I loved how he would rub his hands together excitedly like he had a big secret he was bursting to tell. And I always thought it was funny how he'd call us "Hot Rod" as kids and my mom and dad were "Ol' Woman" and "Ol' Man".
He didn't have a super easy life. He was born with a cleft lip and palate at a time where surgery could only do so much to repair them. At times his speech could be really difficult to understand And in those days so many things were misunderstood and so many people were excluded from a normal education for things that really had nothing to do with their intelligence. I'm not sure what school was like for him but I know he never attended college. He never married and always lived with my grandparents. But he was one of the most optimistic and truly happy people I've had the pleasure of knowing.
I loved what the people at the town grocery store did in honor of him and it pretty much sums up how I feel too. On their marquis on the store front they wrote:
That's for sure.
1 comment:
That sign is so neat and made me cry!
I had forgotten about the "Old Woman' thing...I'm sure mom always loved that!
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