Dad’s Memorial, Brittany

Mama, Victoria and I traveled to Chappell Hill and Brenham to attend Dad’s memorial service Saturday. Brittany, Chase and Makaila met us in Chappell Hill Friday evening. The service was relaxed and welcoming.  There were friends from Hong Kong, Kenya and Mexico in attendance. All eight of the children were there, including Tony, who had to fly in from Indiana. Steve traveled down from Wyoming. All the others of us were somewhere in Texas. We took time to get a family photo since it has been many years since we have been together as a sibling group. I will upload one of those photos when I get it. Of the children, grandchildren and great grandchildren, fifty-one were in attendance. The rest of the crowd of about ninety were friends and adopted family. It was especially good to see my brothers and sisters singing the hymns from memory. That would have pleased Mom and Dad.

Enrique Cepeda preached. He has been a friend of the family since he was in Gulf Coast Bible College in Houston in 1962. Mama and I have not seen him since Joshua was very young; about three as best we can figure out. That would have been some time in 1986. Even with all those elapsed years, he had no problem recognizing me and Mama. He is still as much fun to be around as he was all those long years ago. Doug Waku and his wife, who run a medical mission in central Kenya, were there. Mom and Dad were instrumental is getting the clinic up and running – and supported financially. He told how heartbroken my Mom was when she told them they would have to stop supporting the clinic because of life changes they were dealing with – especially Dad’s advancing dementia. . Mom died a few weeks after they had that conversation. “She gave all she had until the very end”, he told me later.  It was my first time to meet them but we will be in contact from here on out. A friend was there from the Hong Kong ministry that helps get Bibles to the persecuted church in China. (Name withheld intentionally.) I had heard Mom refer to him as she recounted their time crossing into China. He took time to share some stories with me about those times; especially about getting Mom out of detention when she had been arrested at the border.

When the pastor, leading the memorial service opened for floor for testimonies or remembrances of Dad or Mom, the first person who got up was the owner of a local tire shop in Brenham that Dad used to frequent. Dad would stop by to visit with the owner and his staff because it was one of the places he knew how to get to easily in his declining years. He became a good friend to the man; and a good witness. Pastors of churches Mom and Dad had attended were there with some of their congregation members to remember Dad and to comfort the family. My lifelong friend Randy was there and told a wonderful story about how he met Dad. He broke down in tears as he remembered how that initial encounter had affected him. It was a good time of celebration of a life that had meant so much to so many.

We headed towards home after lunch was over. I think we were the last persons out of the church, but we were catching up with Randy and that always takes a lot of time. Mama and I will be making another trip over in the coming weeks to collect some items Martha wants us to have but after that, it is doubtful we will drop by Chappell Hill very often. That chapter of our life is complete. It is a sad thought on this side but one day there will be a very happy reunion. That is the blessed hope of the Gospel.

Brittany will fly back to England tomorrow. She got a rental car in Denton yesterday and drove to Wichita so she could have all day today to look at houses. We had talked about Mama taking her back and the two of them looking at houses together but Mama started getting sick Saturday evening and by last night she was in bad shape, so it was a good thing Brittany went off on her own. If she does not find a house today that she absolutely loves, she and Andrew will rent for a time while they continue to look. They should be in Wichita by mid-April. God’s timing is perfect in that, but it will still be a challenge to get all the packing and moving done in the next six weeks.

Many changes will be coming this summer.