Saying goodbye to Grandpa

One of the two collages of pictures at the visitation
My Grandma Betty is the beautiful lady in the green dress
The 21-gun salute

Presentation of the flag


My the visitation (wake) for my grandfather was held on Monday, May 29th, and the funeral was May 30th. There were so many people there, family members that I'd never met, plus friends of the family. My brother Jim, my nephew, Zachary, cousins Alex, Rachel, Dan, and I were the pallbearers for the funeral. It was really sad, and hard to say goodbye, but I will always remember my Grandpa. My mother read this beautiful poem at the service:

I am standing on the sea shore,
A ship sails in the morning breeze and starts for the ocean.
She is an object of beauty and I stand watching her
Till at last she fades on the horizon and someone at my side says:
"She is gone."

Gone! Where?
Gone from my sight, that is all.
She is just as large in the masts, hull and spars as she was when I saw her
And just as able to bear her load of living freight to its destination.
The diminished size and total loss of sight is in me, not in her.

And just at the moment when someone at my side says, "She is gone",
There are others who are watching her coming,

and other voices take up a glad shout: "There she comes"
and that is dying.

--Bishop Brent