Kalamazoo- Friday, October 27, 2023

     Today, Aunt Delores's large family and many friends gathered to say goodbye to her at a service here in Kalamazoo, MI.  That's her, pictured here with her famous meatballs.  (It's almost impossible to think of our many fond memories of her and not think of those Swedish meatballs!)  

      All of Aunt Delores's adult children said the same thing about her last days-- she was ready to go.   It's hard to believe that her husband, Scott's Uncle Don, had passed back in 1987, 36 years ago.   

     Scott's cousin Debby said that one word that people in the church kept saying about her mother was that she was "classy."  Debby liked that word, and thought that it applied to both of her parents.  We do too.

     Scott rode with his parents to the church.  The viewing was scheduled for 10:00, with the funeral following at 11:00.  Julie and Abby hung back at the hotel, and arrived at the church in time for the luncheon at noon.  It was nice to see everyone, and a certain awkward moment that we were afraid might happen was diffused before it ever had a chance.  All of the "original seven" cousins were there, and it had been a long time since that had happened.

     Scott and his folks sat with Aunt Joyce's family (though Aunt Joyce herself was not there due to her own health problems).  We left the family section for her four children, their spouses, her nine grandchildren, their spouses, and her twelve great-grandchildren.  Scott's cousin David read the obituary during the service.

     After the luncheon, we stopped back at the hotel to freshen up.  Scott had one fun little thing that he wanted to do that afternoon.  When we had come into town yesterday, he saw a sign about the Kalamazoo Growlers.  It turns out that they are the local team in a collegiate summer league.  Scott knew he wanted to get a shirt that said "Kalamazoo Growlers" on it.  We found the team store at Homer Stryker Field and Scott ended up buying two of the shirts.

    We made our way to Debbie and Pat's house, where most of the family was gathering.  Abby had a chance to play with some of the great-grandchildren.  Their house has a beautiful big back yard, surrounded by big trees that were still wearing their fall colors.  We spent most of the time talking with the cousins on the deck that overlooked that yard.  It was in the low 70s and very nice outside.  The people that were on the deck shifted over the course of the evening, but Scott thought it was nice that as the night was wrapping up, all four of the cousins were on that patio.  We left them just before sundown around 7:00, to return to our hotel.