My Grandpa's Funeral

My wonderful Grandpa Riding passed away on September 19th. It was not completely unexpected. He has had Alzheimer's for years and for the past couple of years we have kind of just been waiting for the call. We would have liked for the whole family to go down, but timing was not on our side this week. Quinn had parent teacher conferences on Wednesday and Thursday that he could not miss. We had tickets to the circus on Friday and I was so looking forward to that. But, the biggest part of my week occurred on Saturday when I was part of the choir for the General Women's Conference in the conference center.

I was all sorts of worried on Monday. Of all the things that were going on, I did not want to miss the choir. By Monday evening we found out the funeral would be held on Friday which relieved a lot of my stress. Because of the rest of the schedule for the week, there would not be time to drive down and back. I decided I would fly down by myself. After talking to my brother Seth we got tickets for the same flight. Same situation with his family.

Seth and I flew down Friday morning at 7:00 and flew back that night at 7:00. It was a quick trip. When we got there we picked up a rental car and headed to the church. It was good to see all of my cousins and aunts and uncles that I love so much. All the grand kids except Cassandra and Melanie were able to make it. It helped that most of them were already in Arizona. But there were still a few who had to travel quit a bit.

The service was very nice. Uncle Jed conducted and my dad gave his life history. One of the things that I will always think of when I think of my grandpa was what a hard worker he was. He would always be up so early and when we would stay at their house in Cornville and get up around 7 or 8 we were always greeted with, "well, good afternoon". I joked that in honor of Grandpa I got up at 4:30 the day of his funeral.


The cemetery was a National Memorial cemetery where those who have served in the military can be buried. As we turned into the cemetery I told Seth to remind me never to be buried in Arizona. It is too hot - even if I'm dead. It was around 100 degrees that day. A little to hot for me.


At the cemetery you didn't go to the grave site itself. They had several areas where you would gather for the ceremonial part and then they would take the casket from there. This was members of the National Guard coming up. They did a twenty one gun salute.


Getting ready to fold the flag.


The folded flag ready to be presented to my Granny.


I was sitting right behind my Granny and I don't think she was expecting them to come kneel down and present it to her. She gave a little, Oh! as they came over. It was sweet.

I am very grateful for the family I have. I am grateful for grandparents who instilled the importance of extended family in my life. I have wonderful relationships with many of my cousins and aunts and uncles because of the time I spent with them growing up. I hope my kids have the same kinds of memories someday.