Saying Goodbye to Grandma Funk

My grandma passed away February 1, 2013.  Her funeral was in Vermont this past weekend.  My family and I (including Danny and mom) made the trip up to Vermont from Jacksonville last Thursday.  It was Connor's first time on a plane and Daniel's second, so we were a little worried about the trip!  Plus, I had a immobilizing brace on my knee.  It made it that much more fun!

We arrived in Barre, Vermont at my cousin Jay's house around 8 p.m.  We were pretty exhausted, so we ate and went to bed.  The next morning we got up and went to a memorial service for my grandma in Springfield, Vermont.  This is the town where my mom and her brothers and sisters spent the later years of their childhood.  It is also the town that we would go to visit our grandparents.  After the service, we drove by the old house.  I was very emotional.... more so than I thought I would be.  This place was a staple of my childhood and chances are that we will never see it again.  That was a hard reality to face.  Springfield is about an hour and a half away from where we were staying, so on the way home we stopped to get "creemees".... soft serve ice cream.  We came upon a "gas station" where they had a deli, sold ammunition, and ice cream.  The views around it were incredible, so we took a break and ate our "creemees."

He was a mess.... glad we had more clothes for him to wear the next day!

skipping stones in the creek

We got back to Jay's and just hung out the rest of the day.

It is mud season in Vermont.....

Connor, Jay's daughter Lydia and cousin Kaila



The next day was a difficult one.  It was grandma's funeral.... not a day that I was looking forward too. 

family pic before (since we are NEVER this dressed up)

The funeral was in a beautiful Catholic church in Montpeilier, Vermont.  Montpeilier is the town where my mom was born and my Aunt Anne still lives.  Danny, Allen, Daniel and the rest of my uncles and male cousins were the palbearers.  I did a reading from the bible during the service.  It was beautiful.  I know grandma would have loved it.  We also had a graveside service.  That was beautiful as well.  We all laid mini pink roses on grandma's maple casket.  Daniel and Connor made a heart shapped mosiac steeping stone and laid it on the gravesite.  It was again, beautiful.  Grandma was finally laid to rest next to her husband under the maple trees on the side of a mountain in Vermont.  Everything that she wanted.

After the service, we went to a reception at a restaurant in Montpeilier.  We ate and chatted and had a little fun after a hard couple of days.

All of the grandchildren and great-grandchildren

Connor, Jay, Lydia and Uncle Danny

  After the reception it was time to relax for awhile.  Then, everyone headed over to Jay's house for dinner.

The next day was Mother's Day..... I will have a post about that in a little while.

I know my Grandma was smiling down on us for those 2 days.  Both services were amazing and her entire family, 7 children, 8 grandchildren and 4 great grandchildren were all there together.  It was a wonderful celebration of my grandma, Dorothy Mae Stephens Funk's life.  I am blessed to have had her as a grandma for so many years.  She was sweet, caring, kind, and she loved to dance.  I will forever miss her. 

The last time my boys saw her..... the last time I saw her dance