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Grandpa Stanley Melbourne Wierson On Thursday January 31st, at 6:30 am, my mom and I received a call from Aunt Kathy that grandpa's vitals had changed and his disposition had quieted. So mom and I grabbed whatever clothes we touched when we opened the closet, packed and started on the road. We were about 40 minutes out when Ramona called to let us know that we missed him and that he was at peace. I think we cried the whole way down. We didn't stop for gas and were suprised when we noticed for the first time that the gas light was on when we reached Ames. We drove to the Adams funeral home (they had already moved his body from the hospice) Mom hugged him and I touched his hands and chest and head, I tickled his feet. He was still warm. None of his daughters were there in the hour of his death, but he was not alone. Patrick Henry, the funeral director sat with us and hashed out the details of the death certificate, visitation, programs, and funeral. The visitation was set for Sunday 2-5, we had to have it before the superbowl and long enough because the church was having a meeting around the same time. The Funeral was set for Monday at 1pm. We picked out the casket, a neapolitan blue, tree of life symbols and a cross on the lid that is at the head of the coffin. We couldn't decide on a program design so we went to a christian bookstore on main street. They didn't have anything either. Then we drove a little further to Evert's and picked out the flowers. We wanted red, white, and a little touch of blue. The flowers we picked out were roses, snapdragons, delphinuims, gerbera daisies, gladiolas, and stargazer lilies. All the girls worked on the photos to be displayed, and Kathy worked tirelessly on the slideshow. The rest of us went off in search for the music. When Sunday came around, the visitation at Adams was a little sad, though not final by any means. There were a lot of people and no one really knew me. Which is to be expected because when I came down to see grandpa, I came to see grandpa and not these other people. When I went to see grandpa in the coffin, I didn't like the way they had molded his face, but I didn't dare say anything. He still looked strong and handsome. My stong norweigan heritage was lying there with his hands folded, resting in perfect peace. The room though hot and crowded, smelled wonderful, all the stargazers and other flowers that were stacked together made the room smell sweet and without stress. It got so warm at one point that we had to open the doors to help circulate the air. I never really got a chance to grieve at the visititation because I was juggling trying to help mom get around ( her gaitaproxia was really bad, due to stress) and I was trying to entertain Sarah's kids, 3 or 4 hours is asking a lot for little ones to keep it together. On Monday we left the farm around 11am and went to the church for the ceremony. First Assembly of God. The sisters practiced the song they were going to sing and then we walked out of the sanctuary to greet the guests as they came. Dad was running late. Grandpa was in the entry way so people could see him and say goodbye. We finally gathered in the side room with the whole family. Brothers: Archie and David, sisters: Vivian, Edith, Sherri, many neices and nephews, the 4 sisters and their spouses and children and their children's spouses and children. We were given the instructions for where we would sit and also how we would drive to the grave site together. Then we all piled down the aisle, me with Ramona. It started with a congegational hymn Christ the Solid Rock and then Ramona, mom, Lucy, and Kathy all sang Haven of Rest. Rev. Theo Tosten spoke and recalled memories of grandpa's faithfulness and giving, and a story of Grandma Isabel being worried about keeping the drawers closed on the chest because Kathy would pull them out and climb up to the top. He struggled a few times but he got through it and then he read the obituary. John Keese sang When He Reached Down His Hand For Me, and Ramona accompanied on the piano. Then Pastor Bob got up and spoke, he recalled memories of grandpa in the latter of his life, how he was so strong and gave people bear hugs that knocked the wind from them-even in his 90's (Bob was the senior citizen pastor) and he read some verses that he had shared with grandpa. Then Esther Frandson sang How Great Thou Art without a microphone, she did such a great job. Then Pastor Pilcher shared some memories, one in particular about grandpa leaping over fences in a single bound and then he said that when he got to heaven he imagined grandpa to have leaped over the pearly gates. Pastor Pilcher also talked about him being the church greeter and how no one remembered the pastor or any other people in the church but they always asked for grandpa Stanley, Pilcher then said that instead of St Peter greeting people at the gate, his replacement is now grandpa Stanley. Pilcher then gave the salvation message. The ending congregational hymn was What A Friend We Have in Jesus. And then we followed the casket out to the hearst to be carried by the pallbearers: Ben, Mike, and John and others. We then drove to the grave site called the garden of memories. Grandpa's brother David and Kathy and Ramona sang and then Pilcher spoke and prayed again and then the presentation of the flag followed by the 21 gun salute followed by Taps and then Revelry. Patrick Henry gave me a chuckle with his formality "Thus concludes the graveside commital service". We all took a flower from the casket and left to go back to the church for the reception. We ate and watched the pictures with music again. Then we left because I had to pack to go home. Mom, dad and I were sidetracked however, when we reached the farm. All the memories. We sat around and talked about the ceremony and how we were sad that Ruthie was in Tajikistan and couldn't make it to the funeral, sad also that we didn't have the presence of mind to record it so that Ruthie could have seen it when she came back. I looked though an old memory box of grandpas that had all sorts of things in it. Old Letters, receipts, membership cards, employment cards, and matchboxes from the 30s. He also had an old U.S. army knife bestowed to him during his time in Korea. One booklet that gave me a chuckle was a sex and venerial disease info packet given to him when he enlisted. Its opening sentence was, " Sex is important for a man to be a fit, fine fisted fellow." It also said an aweful lot about diseased and loose women. Men apparently were the only virtuous creatures at the time. I miss my Grandpa a lot. He was a great man. |
