The Dragon's Cave - Update

Last week I attended my Grandfather's funeral. Much like my Grandmother's funeral back in '91, it was a joyous family reunion. Certainly, there were some tears and sadness, but it was a very peaceful and mostly happy occasion. I was able to see some of my cousins, aunts, and uncles that I haven't seen in a long time--John, Rusty, Adam, Randall, Rebecca, Jodi, Sarah, Suzie, Todd, Heather, Theresa, Emily, (gosh I have a big family don't I...?), Kathy, Kelly, Joe, Ben, and many others.

I was reminded of some of the great things about my Grandfather, and I learned things about him that I never knew. I knew he had worked for Boeing for many years, but I didn't know that he was one of the production supervisors on the B-17, B-25, and B-52 bomber planes during World War 2! He was drafted into the army three times, but all three times the government retracted his draft because they decided he was more valuable producing bombers than being a foot soldier. After the war, he was the production manager for the Boeing 707--he knew every inch, every bolt, every wire on that plane.

An interesting tidbit about the funeral--here it was, first week of april, day before the funeral was nice and sunny. The morning of the funeral, it starts SNOWING. By the time the chapel service was done, there were 2 inches of snow on the ground. As pallbearers, the eight of us carried his casket through the snow (in our nice suits and shoes) to the gravesite. My father (who is currently the Bishop of that congregation) gave the graveside dedication, and my brother Chris played 'Amazing Grace' on his penny whistle.

It was very nice to be with family again, and though we'll all miss him, we know that my Grandfather is happy now, happier than he's been in a very long time.