Funeral week

I went to the viewing for Mr. Slack on the morning just before the funeral. I was taken aback by the lack of well-wishers that showed up. This man was hugely popular at the college, but I didn't see any college professors there. He was a politician for several years, but I didn't notice any others there. He was a Bishop, but there were only a few people there from the wards he had attended. He had lived there for 30 years, yet there were only 30 or so people there for the funeral besides the family. None of my friend's friends were there. Just me. I was sorely disappointed in the lack of support I felt this man should have gotten.

His funeral was nice, though. He comes from a family of 10 kids, he being the oldest. His sister and brother each spoke and a grandson spoke. His funeral wasn't much sad, his death had been expected for awhile.

Dixie's funeral was today. Hubby and I went early to the viewing to avoid the crowd. Her kids didn't cry as we went through the line. Hubby did though. He asked Todd how he was doing and Todd said he was hanging in there, but barely. Just barely. There was a video slideshow at the entrance, and that was hard to look at. She just was taken way too soon. They had some really nice family pictures on display that been taken within the last year. She even had her own hair in the picture.

Her funeral was pretty darn sad. Even though she's been sick for so long, her passing was rather sudden and way too soon. She was such a prescence that missing her will be easy. She had a way about her that made you feel that you were not alone and that the mistakes you made didn't so much matter to her.

She had a neighbor and a nephew-in-law each sing. The neighbor sang beautifully and perfectly. Later, the nephew, Ranse, who is also a neighbor, sang Families Can Be Together Forever. He added a few original verses to it, and he struggled through it quite a bit. I could tell he was capable of singing beautifully, but given the song he had to sing, and given how close he was to Dixie, he choked up all the way through the song, which made it even more tender and meaningful.

Her sisters each spoke and then her step-mom, who had done most of the caregiving in the last two months. Then her husband got up and spoke. Wow. I've known him a long time, at least 16 years, and he impressed me today with his tenderness and strength. They have been our neighbors for 14ish years, and they got sealed in the temple 11ish years ago.

It's a good thing Hubby wore long sleeves. His tissue didin't last more than 5 minutes, and short sleeves wouldn't have given him enough fabric to wipe on for the whole 90 minutes.