Above is one of the last photos I have of my grandfather, Forrest. On Sunday, August 3, we spoke at his home church in Forest City, Illinois. He got dressed up and we brought him to Sunday service where they sang him a belated Happy Birthday.
We took him home to the Lodge, then hit the road for Kentucky. I found a wonderful podcast called "Women Worth Knowing" and we learned all about Harriet Beecher Stowe. You can see below what Reni thought. :-)
But our first stop was in Indianapolis, where we visited with our friends the Rinehimers to celebrate Reni's birthday, 4 days prior, over Greek's Pizza.
It was a fun surprise and they even made a double batch of brownies.
While there, we reconnected with the Artonis, who came down from Goshen.
It was a lovely evening together! Then we drove on to Dayton, Ohio for the night.
We stopped in Dayton because I had recently connected with a friend from 1991!! She heard me on a podcast and tracked me down -- oh how special that was! If you ever had friends in the era before e-mail and Facebook, you can understand how easy it is to lose track of someone!
While I was meeting with my friend, everyone else visited the incredible Air Force Museum.
So rare to get a photo of just the two of them! Posing in front of (I think) JFK's Air Force One.
Then it was on to Kentucky!
We stopped to enjoy a picnic lunch at an overlook. Our way of showing the Artonis the city of Cincinnati... without actually visiting the city.
Reni wore his Red's jersey in tribute. I think this is his favorite shirt, which he purchased with birthday gift money.
We made it to Shriners in Lexington with 15 minutes to spare. (no photos) Reni got his "knees" back and he's good to go for another couple of years!
We then started an intense week of seeing as many dear friends as we could squeeze into a few short days! For the sake of space, my comments will be brief, but we so love all of our friends in Kentucky, and there were so many we still didn't get to see! We are so abundantly blessed with friends.
It started with dinner Monday night with our dear friend Diana, who introduced us to these sisters who are considering a trip to Albania in March to help at Valued Treasures!
The next morning we met up with Dr. Owens at Asbury! It had been a long time, but it was so nice to catch up!
Then we visited Nathan's cousin, Paul, and his wife Cheryl, and mother-in-law, Mrs. Barker.
After lunch we hung out with two-time volunteer, Hannah R!
Followed by dinner with college friends, Steve and Ashleigh...
...and dessert with the Bowens.
Wednesday morning we had breakfast with the MacPhersons. Joy is going to come on a prayer team in February! YAY!
We had lunch with our amazing hosts, Les and Shawn. They gave us not only a comfy place to stay, but let us invite friends over to visit and swim in their backyard pool! What a gift!
Then a pre-supper ice cream with Charlotte.
Followed by supper with Pastor Tyrone and friends from First Alliance!
....and dessert with the Mazzas! :-)
It was a joy to share Wilmore with the Artoni family. They were graciously hosted by Priscilla. We shared lunch then visited the High Bridge overlook.
Afterward, we met at the WGM center to do some computer work and training.
While we were there, John Crowe came by and introduced us to his friend, Leslie! What a treat!
And then we had dinner with the Landerholms! The next morning (Friday), we hit the road for south-east Ohio. Some folks have the gift of car sleeping. Ellie and I do not, ha ha.
We stayed Friday evening with my mom's cousin, Connie, and her husband, Randy. They have a farm near Marietta and fixed us amazing food (the Artonis' first experience of pancakes and syrup!). We also enjoyed tours in their 4x4s over their miles of wooded trails. It was a lot of fun to catch up with them and hear the latest news of their family while sitting on their wrap-around porch with tranquil views of nature!
We went from one beautiful property to another...
We visited the Eicks in Waynesburg. Nathan taught their children in Honduras back in 1997/98! They utterly spoiled us with goodies from their hobby farm -- freeze-dried fruits, popcorn, honey, and more! They let the kids drive golf carts all over their property, which was fun for them while the adults talked!
From there, we drove up to Canton to see Kurt and Nancy and their daughter, Megan, and her family. They hosted the Artonis for the weekend while our family continued on to Lancaster...
...where we shared at Mom and Dad Waggoner's former home church, Faith Memorial.
Nathan shared in the main service, then again in children's church...
It is always so nice to reconnect with folks we haven't seen in a while. Below, Gladys is a dear lady who was devoted to visiting the elderly in the nursing home, including Nathan's grandparents -- which is how we met her nearly 20 years ago!
Below, with the Wrights, who we met because we always sat in front of them when visiting Faith Memorial during our visits to central Ohio!
We were hosted by our dear friends, Andy and Kathy M. Thank you for the tasty hamburgers and sweet corn!
We got to reconnect with Nathan's high school friend, Court!
Then, on the way through Columbus, we stopped at Rally House near the Horseshoe to find some Ohio State merch to take back to Albania...
O-H-I-O!
Then it was time to say 'good bye' to Ohio! What a great state!
Saturday morning we visited the Peoria Farmer's market to see my cousin, Rachel, and her daughter Anna.
From there we enjoyed cookies with our long-time friend, Candi.
The next morning, before church, I got a phone call that Grandpa was being taken to the hospital with severe back pain. Mom and I rushed to Hopedale. Below, I sat and waited while we waited for the medical team to assess him.
He was released later that day with no apparent source of pain discovered.
Tuesday, we dropped some pain reliever off with Grandpa, then drove to Peoria for a girls' lunch with my mom and aunts at a new Latin restaurant on the riverfront.
Just missing Aunt Dianna!
The next day Grandpa's pain would intensify, eventually resulting in the Lodge calling an ambulance. He died en route to the hospital. We got word around 3:30 and drove to the funeral home, where the ambulance was waiting in the driveway. It was stunning, to say the least.
I went with Mom to pick up Hannah from work and break the news to her. On the way, I noticed the sunset was stunning. It would be the first sunset that Grandpa missed since 1927. I asked Nathan to go outside and take a photo for me since I was in a moving car. This is what he captured...
The next day was a blur of funeral arrangements...
... and emptying Grandpa's apartment.
Loss brings a lot of reflection, and I find sunrises from the front porch on the farm to be the best time and place for that...
I took responsibility for assembling Grandpa's slide show of photos. I came across this one when he visited me in Washington D.C., shortly after I started my first job post-university. This is us in front of Mt. Vernon. It was so special to share that part of my life with him!
I loved the flowers on his casket. So colorful, so beautiful.
Below, items representing his life: a model of his first tractor, his Bible, an elephant representing his years volunteering for the Republican party, and an Uncle Sam nutcracker demonstrating his love for America (and his huge collection of nutcrackers). Only missing a Chicago Cubs hat! You can read his obituary here.
So many events attended in this church...
It was an honor to share a tribute to Grandpa, the last of a generation. I can't believe I had him for 50 years of my life.
Nathan served as a pallbearer where we laid him to rest next to Grandma and a few yards away from Dad.
Some of my father's cousins on his mother's side... it meant a lot that they came -- including one from Indiana!
The next day, we were honored to capture our nephew Caleb's engagement images! We decided to photograph back in the wooded corner of the Ponderosa, only accessible by Gator...
Kayla is a floral designer and made her own bouquet for the occasion! I thought it was a lovely touch...
Before we knew it, it was our last weekend in America. Per tradition, we try to attend an Illinois football game if we are in the USA, but it just wasn't to be this year. So we watched from the TV in mom and Hannah's apartment and remarked how nice it was not to walk a long ways from the parking lot, and how much money we saved on concessions, ha ha.
And then the following day, we swapped our orange and blue for scarlet and grey and watched the Buckeyes play Texas. Hello fall!
Til next time...
P.S. if you are reading this post via an e-mail delivered to your box, please do not "reply" -- we will not receive your message.
No comments:
Post a Comment