Funeral for a Cousin

 

Activities of the Week

I spent my week recovering from a cold that began while we were in Tucson.  By Wednesday I was enough better to tend Yuli and Dojin while Dan had surgery for his kidney stone.  I had the kids most of the day, but after Yuli's nap, Jennie came and stole her from me.  Dojin was bored so Roy took him with him on his errands, then I walked him up to join his sisters at the neighbors, just a short time before they were able to pick up all the kids.  

Finn and Ila at Ila's soccer game on Saturday.  Roy was able to run over and watch them at a nearby elementary school.  He said that Ila was more interested in picking up sticks than chasing the ball.  She's not yet 4, so it's understandable

Gunnar's team went on to district to take 2nd place in his Battle Books contest.

Hyeji with her friend Addy.  This was at a YM/YW activity.  The youth had asked to use our kitchen.  The activity was for different groups to make part of dinner, then join together and eat.  Roy was assigned the youngest group (there were two boys, too) and then they were assigned the main dish.  Since the vegetable ended up being canned, and the bread was store-bought, and so on, Roy's group was the only one who actually did anything.  

Weekend

Saturday we were up and going, bright and early.  I was supposed to start my day at 7:00 am at staff meeting at the rec center.  Since I'd been sick all week, I felt like I had a good excuse to forego this activity.  This eliminated a lot of stress!  My next meeting was at 8:30--a DUP training meeting. 

    Of course, I was up early to get dressed for my DUP meeting.  Not knowing how long I'd be gone, I dressed to be ready for a funeral to be held in Springville at 1:00.  I pulled a skirt out of the closet, and then looked through my white shirts.  I found one with a v-neck and put it on.  I joined Roy for breakfast, and after eating, I looked down at my shirt to make sure I hadn't spilled anything on it.  It's a good thing I did!  As I was checking it out, I noticed it had panels in the sides.  I thought, "I don't have any shirts with panels," then I said to Roy, "What is this shirt?...I hope it's not your garments."  He looked at it and pointed out proof.  We laughed for 10 minutes.  I was so grateful I didn't wear it to my DUP meeting.

 I have been president of our DUP camp for two and 1/2 years and I have yet to be trained (or inducted into my office) because of COVID.  The training was short, but helpful.  Following the training there was a general meeting, but because of the upcoming funeral I chose not to stay for this.  Also scheduled was a Stake Relief Society Event at 9:30, but I had to make choices.

The funeral was for Lori Gammell, the wife of my cousin Ray Gammell.  He's your dad's age to the exact day.  Lori is one year older than me.  She has fought ovarian cancer for the past four years.  I had seen her at the funeral for my Uncle David Salisbury about a year ago.  She looked pretty good and said she had been trying some alternative medical treatments in Mexico.  However, she went home from that funeral in a lot of pain.  She had acted like she was a lot better than she was. It was fun to hear about her life.  Her motto was "work hard and play harder."  She was the epitome of fun, always the life of the party.  She was a skier (and taught for 36 years).  She had friends in her skiing group and in her hiking group.  I don't think I have ever seen more flowers or more people at a funeral.  She was obviously loved.  Her kids said that if they "faked sick" they could often end up spending the day on the ski slopes.  Her sons talked of the three of them (Lori, Bill and Lee) riding the motorcycle when they were small.  They came to an area where water covered the trail and Lori proceeded to drive through the water--And crashed! I'm sure she was a little worried because she had two small children with her, but she didn't show it--it was just another adventure.  She did a lot of things I would never do--like buy herself a Harley David Motorcycle--without telling anyone.  After hearing all the fun things about her life, I turned to Roy and said, "I'm boring!."  I said it to Nan, too.  She replied, "I'm boring, too."  

Though it was sad to see my cousin Ray have to say goodbye to his wife so early, it was good to mingle with other cousins and my siblings that were also attending.  

  

Nan, Bruce, Roy, Catharine, Dave, Becky, Charlotte and Phillip.

We tried out a Japanese BBQ restaurant on our way home.  It was a little pricy, but really good.

Sunday continued for me with a full schedule.  I had a stake council meeting at 7:00.  As usual, our stake president made the meeting very interesting.  He gave each of us a book about the symbols of the temple by Donald Perry, the speaker at our fireside last week about the upcoming Tabernacle experience.  Our S.P. said that he looked at the temple a lot differently after reading this book about temple symbols.

Nick gave a talk in his ward.  I listened on-line as did most of the family.  This is one blessing that has come through COVID, the ability to listen to our family talk or do a musical number in other wards.

 He did a fabulous job talking about revelation and how it's worked in his life.  He bore a powerful testimony.  

Our Church is at 12:00 now (not the best time).  I stayed home because I had coughed and sneezed so much in my morning meeting it was embarrassing.  However, I still had more responsibilities.  At 1:00 I did my final Ward Conference training.  We met with one ward presidency that had  been unable to stay after when we had presented in their ward.  When I got home I layed down to rest for a short time because at 3:00 we had a youth council meeting at my home.  We are still trying to figure out how to get all the youth council to attend.  We have a couple of stalwarts that are to most every meeting, and then there are those who have never come.  Today we had 6 (out of 12).  

I finished up my day with orchestra practice at 6:30.  Needless to say, I was pretty exhausted when I finally got home at 8:30.  As we know--Sunday is not exactly a day of rest, I guess it's a day of rest from our regular activities.

Last Picture

Camden with the microphone.  We were also
sent a little video of him singing loudly into it.  He
would then offer the microphone for a sister to sing 
for a second.  He seemed to be having a lot of fun.