Together to Say Farewell

The weekend before last the Harrisons gathered in Sun City for Brad's dad's funeral. I hardly took any pictures so there's not much to share. This is the only picture I have from the luncheon after the funeral at the church hall. It's me and Brad with our four (we dearly missed Peter and Jessa, who had Covid), Geneva, and my sister Kelle and her husband Bob. 

The service was very personal and moving. Chuck was a beloved member of their church community and there were about 100 people at the service. After the luncheon at the church hall, the family came back to the house. Once there, we did a lot of talking. This is John with his Uncle Boyd.

There were a couple of babies born this summer, and Troy got some baby time. Here she is with our nephew Eric's daughter Madison.

We did a lot of laughing and we shared a lot of stories.

And then at some point, Mary got going with the photos. First she pulled albums off shelves. Then, while going through this album with her cousin Kelsey and Andy and Brad, she asked Geneva for the "box of old pictures." I don't know how she knew there was a box of old pictures, but she asked and Geneva delivered the goods.

It didn't take long for the box of old pictures to become a point of interest and the center of the gathering. You can tell from the reflection in the window in this picture and in the next that there wasn't enough room around the kitchen table.

                                          

There are four generations of Harrisons in this picture.

It was standing room only.

Mary's showing her Uncle Brian where her grandma is in an old school photo. Even though John and Mary had to leave for the airport at 4:00 and 6:00 the following morning, respectively, they stayed until late to look at the old pictures of Grandma and Grandpa in their Iowa school days. The box had pictures, report cards, newspaper write-ups, scorecards, old school tests, and the like. It was basically a memory box of their days as classmates in a tiny farming town. It was both interesting and funny. We all laughed when Mary questioned the fairness of the grading system in Iowa public schools in the 1940s and 1950s, where just a few questions wrong on a very long and difficult test got her grandmother a mere B+. But then she read some of the questions aloud and we all realized what a challenging test it was. And let's not even talk about the fact that personal hygiene was on Geneva's report card. Suffice it to say we were all enthralled by this time capsule. It seemed like a fitting way to end a long and sometimes difficult day and to learn more about Chuck and Geneva.