Remembering family

June 11, Thursday 2020

It is a Thursday.  Family members John, Judi, Joan, Marlys, self and Helen are taking some last minutes to remember brother Dave.  We so wish Glorine could be here but that is not possible.  We had gotten through the visitation yesterday and now we are at the church for his funeral.  It is a day of emotions and memories.  Dave is the 3rd of us 6 kids to pass into heaven.  Ronald was first in 1964 and then Janet in 1965.  We now have, in the order of siblings #3 Joan, #5 self and #6 Helen.  It is a day to remember and to look back at family and what life is all about.  Many family and friends gather in Jamestown for the funeral but then there will be the trip to Bergen cemetery which is 150 miles away.  As we gather we cry, we mourn, we laugh and then we get ready for the trek to Bergen which is where Mom, Dad and Ronald are buried.  It will be Dave's resting place for now.  It is a place where memories are many and there is a certain peace about the place.  As the service closes we walk out of the church, we greet friends and family and then get into the cars to drive the 2+ hours to the place where Dave's body will be lowered into the earth and remain there until Jesus comes to bring everyone home who loves our God.  As the hearse heads south of Jamestown we fall in line and the memories flood my mind.  Fifty-six years ago we did this same thing.  Ronald was taken from Kulm to the same resting place with the same kind of caravan being lead by the hearst.  As we travel the North Dakota country roads my mind wanders back to that day in October and with wet eyes I remember that day as if it were yesterday.  The miles seems so long and the faces in the car seem to be just shadows of what life is about.  Life is so full of good times but then life is also full of times that we are sad.  We arrive at Bergen cemetery and there are about 30 people there.  There is a short service and then Dave's body is lowered into the ground.  So ends another sibling who has gone onto eternal life but then also they have left Helen, Joan and I here on earth to love each other but also to remember back on the good times of the Lee family on the farm in North Dakota!  Perhaps in the coming days I may write about the "good old days" and yes there were many.  Enough for this afternoon.