Buried mom this morning.
Here's the less dark eulogy I delivered.
Family, Friends, brothers and sisters in Christ, ladies and gentlemen thank you for coming out to offer condolences and respect for our family in our grief and loss, your presence is appreciated and welcome.
My mother, passed away from this life on Saturday morning the 18th of March.
Her husband J, my stepdad, was by her side.
Her love of family was one of her greatest passions, she is survived by her sons AF and Little Bro AF, sisters in law , her grandchildren , her step-grandchildren. She was also a motherly figure to my cousins...
There is one family member that is not here with us today, and that is J, the dog, who is a huge, lovable floof of a dog, half Anatolian Shepard and Great Pyrenees that adopted from the Humane Society last year.
Mom became very fond of J, who came to visit her frequently during our last year with her.
This why we respectfully request that, in lieu of flowers, to please donate in Jean's name to the Lakes Humane Society, the address and instructions can be found in your handout or just ask one of the family.
My mother loved to travel, and some of my fondest memories as a child were travels and day trips and camping adventures all over.
When I was 14 years old she arranged to have me travel with my grandparents to the Swiss alps for summer vacation in Europe. One of the first things I did upon arrival was to buy a Eurorail pass and spend almost every day just traveling to random towns and cities in Germany and Italy and France and having the time of my life, as young man . You may wonder, why did I leave grandparents behind? It was not cruel or inconsiderate...we were staying at, what in winter was a ski village, up about 8000 feet above sea level. The only way up was a bus ride up single lane switchbacks, steeper and sharper than the road up Mt Washington and Grandma was terrified. She didn't come down until the day we had to leave.
My mother's voyaging continued after she met and married J, they enjoyed extensive travels all around the world, from Yellowstone and the West Coast from Seattle to San Diego, to the sands of Honolulu, the Caribbean islands, to the inside passage and Alaska's shore,to the great north woods of Quebec.
There is also a strong seafaring tradition in the family, J's father was a decorated British naval veteran of WWII, her mother was a female athlete, competing and winning in, among other things, surf rescue lifeboat races on the Jersey shore where she grew up.
My dad is a maritime captain, so am I and so is my brother.
Mom put her time in as well, as she worked alongside my dad in one of the hardest and most grinding jobs there is, as a cook onboard a commercial fishing vessel.
That was how mom and pop, affectionately known as "" to their close friends, approached their life together. For over forty years, through thick and thin, flush or broke, fair weather or foul, they were at each other's side, ready to take the good with the bad and live life to the fullest and they always managed to come out on top.
Because of all that and so much more, I can think of no person who will be more heart broken and grief stricken than my dad at the loss of my mom and I would humbly ask, that of everybody assembled here today, that you pray for Joe going forward, that God's grace may ease his loss and his suffering at this time.
We love you Pop and are here for you.
Mom also loved music, particularly the "old country classics" and gospel hymns.
Songs that Ulysses Everett MacGill called, in that great movie, "O brother where art thou?" - Songs of Salvation to Salve the Soul.
Another fond memory of childhood are these old songs and the musicians that recorded them, as I heard them played in the house as I was growing up.
Johnny Cash and Hank Williams and Roy Orbison and Earl Scruggs and Willie Nelson.
Waylon Jennings and Elvis and Hank Snow and The Statler Brothers and George Jones...the list is almost endless.
A family anecdote revolves around how much trouble I got into, as a very young boy of maybe 6 or 7, for learning, and then singing, at the top of my lungs, a couple of Johnny Cash's...ummm..."spicier"...lyrics.
She still loved to listen to them all to her very last days.
I sat with her the evening before she passed away.
I played some of those old songs, and sang along as best I could, as I held her hand.
I softly sang "I Saw The Light" with Hanks Williams for her.
We listened to "What a Friend We have In Jesus" by Willie Nelson
And I shed a tear when I played "Will The Circle Be Unbroken".
I prayed over her, I prayed the 23rd Psalm, and the Lord's Prayer.
And I recited the words of Christ:
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
And the Holy Spirit touched her, and eased her suffering, and swept away her fear, she rested easy and breathed lightly.
Thank you Mom, for all that you did and all you have touched.
Rest in peace, secure in the knowledge of life everlasting, through the power and glory of Jesus Christ.
Amen.
