Dan's Funeral

These are some pics from Dan's funeral and related gatherings. They are in simple chronological order, not a lot of commentary to add to most of them so I'll just let them speak for themselves...

       

       


I do have some commentary at this point...

Resa and Render are a lovely couple who live about five miles from Donna & Dan. From what I hear, Resa became something of an adoptive Mother figure to them when they moved there. Dan told me how Resa would make a lot of homemade soup for them and provide lots of food from their garden for them too.

Readers may recall that Jack and Shirley are the neighbors for whom Dan did his last construction project, expanding their porch deck and enclosing it (as much as possible before the work got to be too much for him). While I was in Alabama in April Dan and I spent a lot of time there chatting with Jack and Shirley during rest breaks and they always made me feel comfortable and welcome.

So when it came time to head back down to Alabama for the funeral, I broached the idea that perhaps (if it was OK with them, but no expectation or obligation whatsoever) I might be able to spend a few nights at their place. I didn't care if they had a spare bedroom, a couch, whatever. It would simply be a place to lay my head at night and then during the days I would easily walk to Donna and Dan's house right down the road. (With their daughter and her large-ish family in town, I knew there'd be no extra room there for me to stay.) I also knew that the church and neighbors would see that there was plenty of food on hand at Donna's house, so I figured I'd just grab small meals there as needed.

Jack and Shirley didn't hesitate in the least and graciously said they'd be glad to have me stay there, anything to help out. To me, this seemed like a very appropriate way to handle things because I know Dan always believed in "Why stay in a hotel when you can stay with family or friends?" Plus the convenient location certainly couldn't be beat.

There is one last little bit of irony or synchronicity or whatever that is just somehow appropriate. As it turns out Jack and Shirley do not have a spare bed or bedroom, just a living room couch. As I said, that was perfectly fine by me. It became very appropriate, though, when they told me that Dan himself had recently spent time on that couch too. Apparently after I left Alabama in early May, he was feeling so bad most every day that he went down to Jack and Shirley's and spent time there on the couch, close to the bathroom in case he would feel nauseous. With Donna continuing to work, Dan didn't want to be alone at his own house.. not only out of fear that something might happen to him, but also because if something did he didn't want Donna to have to come home in the evening and find him dead. (Of course, he didn't actually tell Donna that!)

On a personal note, I cannot thank Jack and Shirley enough for their kindness in allowing me to share their home for a few nights, even loaning me a key so I could get in if they weren't around. I enjoyed chatting with them some more each morning and most evenings. I was only sorry I couldn't actually spend more time with THEM, but under the circumstances I know they understood that my priorities were elsewhere, especially given limited time.

One last aside... Jack tells the funny story of when he first met Donna and Dan. They had bought the land where their house is now and Dan had been running equipment during the day to clear trees and whatever in preparation for buiding the house. Then he and Donna were spending the night in... a tent, I think, but I could be wrong, it could have been a vehicle of some sort. I'm sure I'm missing a lot of details, but the gist is that Jack introduced himself and insisted that Dan and Donna should spend the nights at their place where they could bathe rather than in a cold tent (it was winter and it DOES get cold at night in Alabama). As Jack tells the story, the first thing Dan did at their place was to ask if he could use the phone to call his daughter in Florida (at the time). Jack said yes and Dan called, saying right off: "I must really STINK because there's a man here could smell me a half a mile away and said I should come to his place to get a shower!"

And on that note, back to the pics. I left some these at the larger 1024x768 size (the setting I always use on my old camera) to preserve details. These are from the actual funeral at the graveside (after the memorial service inside the church) and then from the luncheon afterwards in the church community room. (There was TONS of food, all of it delicious!)...

       

   


Post-funeral luncheon and more family shots...