Oregon Trip - Part 1

Last Thursday we traveled down to Oregon for my great-uncle's funeral. It sad, lovely, heart-warming, and touching all at the same time. My Uncle Cecil could be described as a hard-working farmer who dearly loved his family and had a servant's heart for others. He was a great and godly man and will be missed, but we were all happy to celebrate his home-going to heaven and look forward to that great family reunion someday in the presence of our Lord and Savior.

Here's a picture of when we went to visit Uncle Cecil and Aunt Marilyn back in February (you can see the cancerous tumor on the side of his face). I am thankful that he was alert and could take care of himself up until two days before his death and that he was able to die at home.

Uncle Cecil was given military funeral honors for his service in World War II in the Pacific. This entailed three honor guards, flag-draped casket, flag presentation to my Aunt Marilyn and the playing of Taps by a bugler. It was very special and emotional.

Uncle Cecil was buried in the same cemetery where his three siblings (including my Grandpa) and his parents are buried. The small church cemetery is perched on a hill in the midst of farmland and overlooks the Villwock family homestead with the old white farmhouse where my Grandpa and his siblings were raised.

Following the graveside service, there was a memorial service at my grandparents church (also the same church where my parents were married). There were two parts of the service that were especially interesting to me. One was the reading of Uncle Cecil's 4-5 page autobiography. It was fascinating to hear about his life from his own perspective - much more interesting than the standard obituary reading. The memories he shared about his childhood, the war, falling in love, etc, were fascinating, funny and touching. It makes me wish that more people would take the time to write their own autobiography. The second thing was the slide show that included not just pictures but also film footage I had never seen before. It was so much fun to see video of my mom as a child, my grandparents as young adults, and even a glimpse of my great-grandmother.

Following the funeral, we unpacked at Uncle Paul and Aunt Sandi's and then grabbed McDonald's and took it to the city park. I have so many memories of playing at this park when I was a kid, so it was fun to introduce it to my own children. Although there is a new section of toys, one of the old toy areas that I used to play on is still there (minus the very tall and dangerous-by-today's-standards slide :). Ben and Abby got to have their first merry-go-round ride on the same one I did. We also walked down to the creek that winds its way through the park and cooled off our feet. Ben, of course, tried to take off for the middle of the creek and was quite mad when Mommy and Grandma wouldn't let him. :)

He drank half the cup of water this way!

We then returned to farm. The kids played with the kitty and then my niece Hannah (who was also with us on our trip) got invited by Uncle Paul to ride with him on the 4-wheeler down to the pasture for some evening chores. She, of course, was very excited and I was jealous. I remember when it was me getting invited to ride along on the 4-wheeler, but now I'm the adult mommy that has to care for her little ones. :)

Uncle Paul and Hannah returning from their work.

Paul and Sandi are in the busiest time of the year for them - smack in the middle of cherry harvest and manning the cherry stand. Work begins at 5am and they don't get home until 7:30pm, with still more chores to do around the house. So we didn't get to see them much but were so thankful for their generous hospitality in letting us stay the night even during harvest time.

I'll post more soon about the following day and our trip home that took 10 hours, rather than the 3 hours and 20 minutes it normally takes with no stops.