Reporting on the Two Special Days Last Week

Yes, I did have another dental appointment last week Thursday afternoon, and though I can still praise the two students who worked on a thorough exam of my gums and then started a cleaning of my teeth - which is to be finished this coming Friday afternoon - I did feel rather stressed when those 2 1/2 hours were done.

They had tilted me back so that my head was lower than my feet (I think, as I couldn't see), and they also tilted my head back when it is used to being tilted forward. I did my best to be a good sport, but I had a little trouble getting my balance back as I was leaving.

Then I also had trouble finding my car in the underground parking lot!

Mind you, I had put on my upper back a Super Patch (Freedom) for pain, and I strongly feel that the sharp nerve pain that I usually feel just under the edge of the back of my skull was greatly reduced! I can highly recommend these now. A drug-free way to deal with pain!

Then, on Friday morning (the other Special Day last week), June came by to pick me up. She had our step-cousins Allen Bird and his sister Laura Teterault (her husband has died some years ago) in her vehicle. Their younger brother David Bird was following us in his white truck.

I'm afraid I wasn't such a great tour guide as I missed the corner where we were to turn to get to the Chortitz Cemetery where we were going to bury Uncle Isbrand's ashes. (These step-cousins referred to him as Dad).

So...we drove a mile or two further west, then north one, the Chortitz Road, and back another mile or two, and back to the Gruenthal Road. I felt badly as I was sure I could remember the landmarks from last September when my brother Ernie & Dori, and I had driven in circle/squares until we found it. However, I suggested we pull up at the next farm house and ask. The woman was friendly but was not used to going to that cemetery. She suggested we go back east another mile or two and try going north again. This time we got the right road! Half a mile north and we were at the cemetery!

Someone unhooked the link chain at the entrance and June was able to drive right into the cemetery between the graves, and closer so that June and David were able to carry the heavy tombstone in a wooden shipping frame to the spot that the caretaker had dug for us. However, while unpacking it we found it had a large crack across one corner. Broken, in fact.

The ashes were in a brown wooden box with nice carvings on it. The grave needed a little widening at the corners, and Laura did that with June's spade. Then David pushed it down into the hole that was only 12-15" across both ways, and about 3 feet deep. (All this at the head of Gr'ma Kroeker's grave, as the 3 step-children all knew that he had held his mother in great regard).

When we got that far we did some sharing, Laura read from a book with some fine quotes, and Allen prayed a prayer of committal. June shared that as she grew up in BC and Uncle Isbrand had been a boarder in their home until he got married to the widow Helen Bird, with the 3 kids, she felt that this uncle was all hers! She did not like to share him with the rest of us 36 cousins! I knew him mostly because he came back to Saskatchewan every fall for fishing and hunting, and to see if his parents needed any help to prepare for winter.

When I had notified some of the other cousins online about his death in December, almost everyone of them said that he was their Favourite Uncle.

While we were still sharing... two men came into the cemetery at the far corner. I went over to make sure but I thought I recognized one of them as Mom's (and Uncle Isbrand's) cousin Dave Guenther. Sure enough, it was! and he was showing his younger brother Menno from Edmonton around to the graves of their relatives. Menno told me that his wife had died recently of cancer. I brought them over to our cluster of people to introduce them.

When done and the broken tombstone laid over the hole, and the ground smoothed around it. We headed back to Saskatoon. I just asked June to drop me off at home so I could join them at her home for lunch with my own wheels. I had some errands I needed to do later.

We had a great lunch, and visit. I felt like I was finally getting to know these three cousins. But we began to say good byes when Laura was ready to drive herself back home to Edmonton.

David said he would like to come by to see me about 5:30. (He hinted about taking me out for supper, so I took care not to eat ahead of time). He told me many stories of growing up and how he learned to love and respect his step Dad, whom his mother had nicknamed Randy, and how in the last couple of years as his memory began to slip, David had stepped in to help him out a few times.

David had promised his sister-in-law, Anna, that he would try to thank/reward me for the help I had been in locating the rest of the cousins. So he treated me to a fine supper at the Granada House Restaurant across the alley from my place. (It is classy, so I assure you, I only go there if someone else is paying!)

It did my heart good to know that Uncle Isbrand had won the love and respect of his step-children and he had never asked them to change their surname to his, out of respect for their natural Dad, although deceased. They also honoured him for the gracious way he cherished their mother.

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A Favour for the Generations that Follow You

Here's a favour you can do for your children, or your nieces and nephews. They may not care for this much when they are young, but about the time you are old and your time for passing on into eternity has arrived, they will be asking each other for memories of you, and the homes you grew up in. I've observed that most people don't show much interest in family history until they reach about age 40, and some of the older relatives pass away.

So I've become a squirrel, hording old photos and trying to get the stories behind them. This is how I came to write my family history book to honour my beloved Gr'ma Kroeker. That interest has led to me becoming the keeper of these deceased relatives photo collections.

I have Gr'ma and Gran'pa's, Mom & Dad's, Uncle George's, and now Uncle Isbrand's albums have been given to me too. I've been promising my siblings that I will scan all of them, and try to organize them so that they can tell who/what is in the photos. I've been feeling some urgency for this of late, as the younger generations will probably chuck them all into the garbage, if they have no memories or stories to go with the photos.

If you don't think you are up to it, try to find a relative who does care enough to take on such mega projects. They will be appreciated eventually!

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