GRANDMA'S FUNERAL

Saturday, December 20th was Grandma Aretta Fish's funeral in Lakeside, AZ. She died December 13th at 93 years of age. Rusty and I flew down to Phoenix on Friday and spend the night with Scott & Kirby and drove up to Lakeside together Saturday. It is a 3 1/2 hour drive up to the White Mountain area where it is cold and snowy. The day was beautiful with blue skies and we really enjoyed the drive.
About 60 miles from Lakeside we got a flat tire in a great spot. Stopped the car right in front of an auto parts place which turned out to be very advantageous because the little donut spare was flat. Rusty ran it down to the shop and got it pumped up while Scott took off the wheel. It was like an Indy 500 pit stop record time! In ten minutes we were on the road again. On the way back home after the funeral and the family getogether we stopped at a Wal-Mart and Scott bought two new tires to get us home safely.



I loved getting reacquainted with family and friends at the funeral. People I hadn't seen for 30 years became familiar to me again. Often I had to ask their name but then a spark of recognition would clear the fog and I could see them as they used to be. I spent the day introducing myself as "Don Ray's wife". That was very sweet! Of course it is very clear that I am eternally Mrs. Don Ray Fish and only temporarily Mrs. Henrichsen. I enjoyed introducing Rusty and people were so happy that I had someone to share my life with now.
All of Leo & Evalee's children were there and all of Norris and Carole's except Kevin. It was wonderful having Scott & Kirby there to represent Don's family. Scott enjoyed chatting with his dad's cousins and hearing some of the fun things they used to do together to "terrorize" Lakeside. .
Grandma had three siblings, two brothers and a sister. Her sister Elda is the only one still living. She looked beautiful at 83 years old. Scott complimented her on her dark hair and her eyes lit up! She had lost her third husband just four months ago. She must be feeling pretty lonely.
Leo & Norris spoke at the funeral. They sat on the stand with an empty seat between them. Kirby said it looked to her like they had saved a seat for their missing brother. The grandchildren sang "I am a child of God". It seemed like they should have finished with our "Fish Family Forever" verse.
The closing song was "God be with you till we meet again". I could hardly sing it as I thought of singing it at Don's funeral and the joy that he must be experiencing having his mother join him.
Grandma was buried in the Lakeside cemetery right next to her husband Donald Fish who had died 26 years ago. I can't imagine being alone for all those years. Scott walked around the cemetery and got several pictures of headstones of other members of the Fish family. They have left quite a legacy in that small town.
After the burial we all returned to the church building to chat and visit and have a delicious meal of homemade soups, salad, rolls, cake, cookies and brownies. What a sweet act of service for those Relief Society sisters. There was a another funeral held there earlier in the day and I'm sure they did the same thing for that family.
The drive home was a great time to ponder the events of the day and the sweet things that had been said about a remarkable woman.
In Norris' remarks he said that his mother was truly "without guile". That she never intentionally said anything unkind about someone. If she happened to accidentally say something that might have sounded unkind she so quickly apologized and tried to make amends. This is one of the things I have always admired about Grandma Aretta Fish.
When I grow up I want to be like her!