I Love Funerals!

Before I post about our past couple of fun adventures including Thanksgiving, I have to pay tribute to two of our older family members who died within a day of each other last week. On Richard’s side of the family, his last living aunt, Emma Rae Eyre passed away at age 88, six years after the passing of her beloved husband Vern.

This is how she looked when she married her sweetheart Vern in 1946:

She became a feisty red-head who was known for her vivacious personality, quick wit and her strong will!

Apparently there has never been a more ardent Utah State University Aggie Fan!  She and Vern ran the school when they were students and all their children followed suit. Since then they have attended every banquet, every awards presentation and every USU football and basketball game on record. One of her kids joked that they were sorry that there was an Aggie Football game at the very same time as her services  because she was going to have to miss the funeral.

Her son said that he called her one day to gingerly break the bad news that his oldest child would probably be attending BYU instead of USU and that others of his children may do the same. There was a long silence and then she said, “Sorry, I just threw up a little in my throat.” LOL! 

She lived a long life full of activity and many contributions to her family and the world.

Within 24 hours my wonderful brother-in-law Jesse Hirschi had died at age 94.  He was almost blind but had a clear, active mind and had gone to the grocery store with the help of a family member and died that night in his sleep. He was a wonderful soul and loving husband, father and grandfather.

This delightful picture shows him at age 91 enjoying one of the great loves of his life….fishing!

He married my half sister LaRue (whose mother had died of cancer before my dad married my mother) whom we all loved dearly. After bringing three boys in the world she passed away of cancer at our home in 1961. LaRue (lower right)  had given birth to a baby three months before she passed so my parents lovingly cared for that adorable little boy for three years until Jesse married Ruby (upper left) who brought light back to his life.

As you can see (above) Jesse served in World War II. In addition to the moving tributes of his brother and two grandchildren who represented all those children and grandchildren who loved him dearly, a group of five veterans about his age in full uniform provided a three gun salute and a moving message. Taps were beautifully played at the dedication of the grave. It was moving! 

Here he is a handsome young man:

Jesse was a fine craftsman and in addition to building our first little A-frame cabin at Bear Lake, he built a lovely little cabin on his property in Geneva Canyon to provide a fun place for his grandchildren to visit. Ruby had one daughter who had ten children and all those children and grandchildren in addition to his own, talked about the beauty of their memories with their grandfather at that place.

One grandson, who grew up in Phoenix Arizona where the summers are unbearably hot asked his father one summer as they were walking up to the cabin nestled in the cool of the woods, why in the world they lived in Arizona instead of the beautiful mountains of Idaho. The Father’s reply will mean a lot to anyone who knows anything about Southeastern Idaho in the winter. He said, “because you don’t have to shovel heat!”

Both funerals were celebrations of wonderful lives. It took both Richard and I back to the memories our childhoods with these two remarkable people! Life is about touching others’ lives for good and both of these valiant souls did that in spades! I love those reminders that always come with funerals!