End of the month recap

 So, on June 22, which was Nancy's birthday too, my brother and I drove to Coalville, Utah, for a memorial service for our cousin Darlla, who shocked her family by dying on June 8, quite suddenly and unexpectedly. (Though her granddaughter Hailee (her only granddaughter--the rest of the grands are sons) told me that Darlla had a number of medical complications going on, so it wasn't entirely surprising. A shock because she just died. No getting sick and giving people time for worry. Or mental preparation.)

It was lovely to spend the time driving there and back again with my brother before he and his wife head off to Hawaii, where they are going to serve their second mission as a senior couple on the island of Oahu. In fact, they just flew off there this morning! Maybe my brother will blog about their experiences! (Hint, hint.)

We were both really glad we went because Darlla's oldest brother Ron is in the latter end of the 80s, and it was just a nice opportunity to see cousins we might not see for some time or ever, because after all--who knew the last time we saw Darlla would be the last time? We don't get to see a game plan for life, and things happen, like happened to Darlla at only 71.

We were small in numbers, but it was a lovely time, and I grew in appreciation for Darlla and her family, and also for just the entirety of my Uncle Earl's posterity. They are good people. For pitching in and helping at (or running) reunions, they have been THE BEST. Honestly, without Ron there would not have been the decades of Hancock reunions that there have been. There would not be a Hancock Hummer, which Ron edited for decades, and then passed the baton to Bob Mitchell, who passed the baton to my sister Colleen, who passed it to Nancy, and she has been trying to pass it, but the relay team is not delivering, so Nancy is still doing it. 

So here are some pictures from last Sunday:

Darlla had four brothers and one sister. Ray and Carol have already passed on, Ray has been gone for many years, having died young of a brain aneurysm. The youngest brother, Leonard, lives in maybe Alabama? I think so. Far away. He joined the service via phone. The other surviving brothers are Ron, who came from Canada, and Gordon, who lives in Utah. In this picture, then, are two of Darlla's brothers, two of her children, and two of her grandchildren. The two children are Destinnie, and behind her her youngest brother David. The two grandchildren in this picture are Destinnie's daughter Hailee, and David's son Karsen. Destinnie's brother Frankie also lives in Alabama, and he participated via Zoom. And surprised me with the wonderful delivery of his mother's eulogy; I did not know he was such an eloquent speaker.

Here are Uncle Earl's descendants who were there (except for Karsen who somehow missed this group photo opportunity):

Back row: Brody (Ron's youngest), DeeDee (Gordon's daughter), Destinnie, Louise (Gordon's wife), Gordon, David, and Deanne (Ron's wife). In front is Brian's wife Heather and Brian, and Bobby and his wife Vikki (both Gordon's sons) and Ron. 

This is DeeDee, Destinnie holding a pencil drawing of her mom Darlla, Taryn (Gordon's first wife and the mother of the three children DeeDee, Bobby, and Brian) and Roberta, who has been friends with Darlla since they were small. Darlla was six or seven when her family moved to Utah from Canada, and Roberta has been friends with her since that young age.

Proof that we were there! Mary, Bruce and Me with Darlla's portraits.

And then we got the helpers out of the kitchen to be in this photo:

Pat Garrett (widow of our cousin David), Mary, Bruce and me with Deanne, Ron's wife. 

Deanne gave me multiple hugs, very big and long hugs. Because I remind her of my mother! She and my mom were friends for a long time. I don't even know how long! Deanne was from Barnwell, so maybe my mom knew her when she (mom) was a young married woman in Taber. Deanne and Ron had dated as young people, but she married a Kindt from Raymond, and Ron married Betty. The Kindts lived in Raymond, my mom's home town, and when she and dad sold the farm and retired there, she and Deanne became fast friends. Then Ron retired from working for the Alberta government, and he and Betty retired to Raymond. After Betty's illness and death, Ron and Deanne began dating again, and married, and Deanne was so wonderful to him, and to Brody, who was still a young teen when his mom died, and she just mothered him so well.  It is hard to think of two nicer women than Betty and Deanne, Ron's two wives. They are just both so golden.

I appreciated the way that Ron and Deanne looked out for my mom after she was widowed. My mom loved Deanne so much, and was just tickled when she married Ron, and she got to have her friend be also her niece. And I appreciate Deanne for thinking that I am like my mother, because my mother was a good woman. 

As a child, I did not appreciate my mom nearly enough. In fact, when at a funeral someone said I looked like my mother--I was only three or four years old, but I remember clearly being so offended. I was WAY cuter than my mom!! Rude. And when my dad poked me and told me to say "thank you" I could not LIE. I was NOT thankful for that RUDE COMMENT. 

Whenever someone says I remind them of my mother, I think of that first memory of my lack of appreciation for being thought to be like my mother...and I am thankful to have grown up enough to have learned to appreciate my mother, and so I thank Deanne for the compliment. She knew and loved my mom, and I feel known and loved by Deanne, too.

Okay! Well, I just enjoyed driving to Coalville with my brother, and spending time with my cousins, and getting to know Darlla's posterity better. It was a lovely way to spend a few hours on a Sunday.