The Funeral

My grandmother was buried next to my grandfather, Kenneth Thomson. I never met my grandfather. He died in 1961 in a car accident. He was buried in Salt Lake. That is why my grandmother was buried in Salt Lake even though she died in Pennsylvania. Here are the pall bearers carrying her casket and also a photo of her headstone and some photos of her when she was first married. My grandmother was a beautiful women. I never knew that she was 17 when she got married. My grandfather met her on his mission and fell immediately in love. He brought her home with him and they were married shortly after that. I also learned that my grandmother had a rough life prior to that. Her mom died when she was very young and her dad traveled around a lot for his job. He couldn't take care of his girls, so he put them in the orphanage that was just down the street until he could care for them on his own. We drove by the orphanage when we were driving around Salt Lake.

There was only a grave side service. My cousin Cheri wrote the eulogy and they asked me to deliver it. We sang a song then dedicated the grave. Then, the opened the floor for anyone who wanted to share memories of grandma. My aunt Peggy, aunt Charlotte, my uncle Bob and my mom all stood and shared some memories. My uncle David didn't want to get up, but as we were pulling away, he knelt down my the casket and told his mom good-bye. It brought tears to my eyes.

We got together after the services at my uncle Bob's house in Layton. We had a big family dinner and sat around talking. We got pictures of all the families that were present. I hadn't seen some of these people in 30 years. I met a cousin that I had never met before. I really had a great time.

Blogger is being strange and not letting me move my pictures around, so I will post them in a different post.