mamabealadventures

mamabealadventures
I had just written a whole account of the funeral and had gone on to reflexions on grandmother when I lost it all. So here we go again.
As you all know Richard's mother passed away on 9 November , 2006 in woodinville Wa. She had live there the last 14 years.
I flew out on Friday to see if I could be of some help to Carole with arranging everything about the funeral and all the cousins that were coming. As is was all the grandchildren except Jason( who was in Abu Dhabi) and 2 great grandchildren showed up during the week end, which kept George busy driving to the airport to pick them up. Carole and I went to the florist on Saturday and picked out a beautiful spray for the coffin in assorted white flowers which we hoped Virginia would like. After that we went to the funeral home to dress the body in temple clothes. I had offered to do this since I felt it was one thing I could do. Carole and I had a prayer before we went in. I had kind of dreaded the task as I have never had to do this before. But it turned out to be a very nice experince, and I hope Virginia felt we did it with love and respect. I felt it was the last service we could do for her. Carole had had a hard time finding the temple clothes. When we looked in the box we found several pieces of clothing with the stamp of the temple on them. Obviously a long term loan. We had a hard time locating true white nylons and finally agreed that off white would have to do. I had ironed all her clothes , but we left her dress the way it was with the loose lace attached with safety pins, because that is how she wore it when she was living. We got everything to look very nice.
George had a very hard time realizing that it was finally over with his mother, and he had trouble making decisions about what had to be done like the program etc. Carole and I mapped it out and then gave it to him for final approval. We got it done. Our family stayed at grandmothers house. It was a good experience, and gave us an opportunity to look through her things. I know that sounds terrible, but as Trevor put it, it was a very liberating feeling. When she was a live you never felt like you could ask her about her things, and parts of her house were kind of off limits. Sunday morning I had trouble sleeping so I got up and organized all her china and silverware according to patterns. Aalso to sort of see just how much there was to go through. It gave me peace of mind, and I felt that clearing her things up would not be that difficult. We also had a good time going through her pictures. Trevor had the task of making a collection of pictures for the foyer in the church. We found a lot of pictures we had never seen before. It was fun to come across a picture of Virginia dressed as a flapper, and a glamour girl. A whole different view on her.
We enjoyed the time we had to spend with the other Beal cousins. When we get together and realize how much fun we have we always wonder why we don't do it more often.
Carole had planned some fun meals that everyone could help prepare so we had a lot of good kitchen talk.
On Monday there was a viewing from 10-12. There was a family prayer offered by Quincy, and Carole and I finished putting on the veil and the casket was closed.
The funeral itself went very well. George said he did not want to talk as he felt everything he would say would be an apology. Gill gave the eulogy. It was long and can best be described as a travel log with the theme: "She was always there to meet us" he did permit him self one humerous anecdote: One time when they were together Beth was playing on Grandmother's organ. Grandmother came in and said: "Would you play my favorite: " How Great I am?" We were glad to hear that, as we had chosen "How Great Thou art" for one of the songs at the funeral.
Grandmother's visiting teacher of 14 years asked to talk at her funeral and she did a marvelous job. She was able in a loving way to talk about Grandmothers peculiarities with out sounding critical. She would say: she like to display her pictures around the floor. We could all fill in the unspoken words. One story I liked was when she talked about taking grandmother shopping. She said she would come to her house to pick her up and grandmother would be in her black skirt and blouse and black raincoat. Black shoes and a shopping bag with her black handbag and an alarm clock inside. They would go to the mall and agree on a time and place to meet. So grandmother would set her alarm clock so she would be on time. Then they would go their separate ways till it was time to meet again. She said on one of those trips when she got a call from a clerk in a store that grandmother could not remember where to meet, that it would be their last shopping trip. That was when grandmother started to loose her memory. There was an organ solo. Then Melinda representing the grandchildren spoke. She did a great and loving job too, and I hope you have all had an opportunity to read her talk. The bishop spoke last and he too did a great job. Most of the family was represented on the program in one way or another. David Smith, and Stepen Smith both came from the east coast. 3 of Gills children came and Beth, grandmothers sister. After the funeral there was a luncheon provided by the relief society complete with funeral potatoes and several varieties of Jell-O. The food was very good.
When we got back to the George and Caroles, George pulled the grandchildren and me aside and told us about the disposition of the will. He stressed a couple of times that there was nothing worth getting in a fight over. I agree. Basically he wanted all the grand- children to give him a list of anything they would like from grandmother things, and we would try to share it according to monetary and sentimental value and try to do it as equitable as possible. The only thing grandmother left was her house. It is paid in full. repairs need to be done before it can be sold, and the value will be split evenly among George, Robert and me.
Tuesday morning I left with Quincy and Trevor and flew with them to Salt Lake. Marni met me at the airport and Susan was kind enough to put me up at her house. Wednesday she drove me up to Fielding for the burial. There was a nice turnout here as well. Robert and Kay, and their children and grandchildren except John, who is in Central America. Several of grandmothers Nieces and Nephews showed up. the surprice guest was Rosslyn Beckstead and her children. I am sure she had hoped to see some of you guys. She had read about the funeral in the paper and decided it was our family.
After the burial there was a nice get-to-gether at Gills. Gill also gave us copies of a book he has been writing about his Danish ancestors.
I flew home the next day.
I am going to stop here and do another entry about my reflexions on grandmother.