Kathy,
When my dad passed away they brought him home and he stayed in our 
livingroom, that is how they did it back then.  I walked up to the cofin and 
touched him in an effort to say goodbye.  He had told me goodbye before he 
left the house but I had no clue that this would be the last time I would 
see him alive.  Touching him brought peace and serenityand helped with 
closure.
Kathy, thank you for sharing this awesome service with us.  My prayers are 
with you and your family.
Huggs and blessings,
Virgie and Hoshi
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Kathy Du Bois" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, January 19, 2007 10:04 AM
Subject: the honor shown my Dad


> Hi Guys,
> I wanted to write more yesterday and share with you all the happenings 
> surrounding my Dad's funeral, but I came home with some kind of a bug and 
> so I had to keep my message short and to the point.  It is no fun flying 
> when you don't feel well.  Liz and I both just stayed in bed, for the most 
> part and recovered.  I just wanted to let you know yesterday that I was 
> home and safe.
> Anyway, the events surrounding Dad's funeral were just amazing!  I just 
> have to share them with you.  God was so with all of us.  First of all, 
> when the pastor came over on Sunday, to plan out the funeral service we 
> all had a great time swapping memories of Dad and what a character he 
> truley was.
> Then, and I have no idea how the next part of this story will fly with 
> some of you, but I'll tell it anyway, because it was healing for me, I 
> began praying about having the courage to touch my Dad in order to say 
> goodbye.  I felt as though the Lord was telling me that this would be an 
> important part of the healing process for me because I wasn't able to say 
> goodbye to him while he was still alive.  Finally I prayed that, if the 
> Lord felt that this was important for me, that he would arrange it so that 
> I could do it alone, since I had no idea how I would react.  I didn't even 
> tell Greg about this because I thought that I was being so bizarre.
> Anyway, our family was scheduled to have a private viewing at 11:00 am. on 
> Monday morning, which  ended up being a very nice thing, but anyway, Greg 
> and I got going earlier than expected and showed up arount 10:00 am. 
> instead.  We knew the funeral dirrector pretty well because we used to 
> attend church together when Greg and I lived in the area.  The funeral 
> director came out to the parking lot to express his condolences to me 
> personally and then he said, "Kathy, would you like to spend some time 
> alone with your father ahead of time?"  I couldn't believe it, but there 
> was God preparing a private place for me in the midst of everything, so I 
> went in with the director and spent some time alone with my Dad.  I just 
> kept stroking his arm and holding his hand.  I couldn't believe how easy 
> it was once I got past my own fears.  What I hadn't expected was how I 
> opened the door for others in my family, especially my Mom, to reach out 
> and touch Dad to say goodbye after me.
> The rest of the family gathered and we hugged and cried, but rejoiced that 
> Dad is at peace now.  At around 4:00 pm. we had a public wake and, O My 
> Goodness, I couldn't believe how many people showed up to say goodbye. 
> The wake lasted three hours.  Our family formed a reception line and I 
> honestly didn't believe that there would be enough time for everybody to 
> make it through.  It was incredible how many lives this simple man 
> touched.  Our family had a kind of joke about it though.  You see, my Dad 
> hated crowds.  He always just wanted to get in and get out and get 
> whatever he was supposed to do over with.  We were joking that this was 
> probably the only way that Dad could have handled this situation, 
> especially as the center of attention. GRIN!  I'll bet that there were 
> between 2 & 300 people, easy.
> Anyway, then, there was a military funeral.  Wow, was that powerful. 
> All the V.F.W. posts in the Stephenson area participated.  It is a very 
> moving service.  First, they all filed past my Dad and gave him a sollute. 
> then, they read about his military history and his obituary.    When they 
> prayed, they would remove their caps and put them back on when the prayer 
> was done.  Then, they began folding the flag and as they did so, the 
> chaplain explained what each fold of the flag meant.  It was really 
> powerful. I was amazed at how much of the service, including each fold of 
> the flag, points to honoring God first, above all else.  Then, of course, 
> they presented the flag to my Mom, then Taps was played on a trumpet and 
> then, the men retreated.
> After that, they held, what is called a prayer service.  The pastor 
> preached a sermon at this and there was a time of prayer and then Greg and 
> I sang the old Swedish hymn, "Day by Day."
> After most of the people had left, Mom wanted to go up to the casket one 
> more time and I offered to go with her.  She and I walked up and this 
> time, she felt comfortable taking his arm and saying, "good night dear." 
> It was very hard to keep from crying as she did this because I knew that 
> this was what she had said to him every night, but this time, it was so 
> final.  We prayed together prayers of thanks for Dad and for the life he 
> provided for us, with God's help.
> The next Day, was the church funeral.  I and two of my brothers 
> participated in that.  I sang a simple song that Dad had asked me to sing 
> when he died.  The thing is, he had asked me to do this over 32 years ago. 
> I also sang "Because He Lives," and we got the whole church rockin' on the 
> chorus.  then, the cemetary is right behind the church so we moved out to 
> there, but the cool thing was that the pianist began playing, "How Great 
> Thou Art," and I started singing it and everybody joined in, so we walked 
> out to the cemetary, in 12 degree weather singing.  Awesome, eh?  Seven of 
> Dad's Grandsons were the paul barers.   Matt would have made eight, but he 
> didn't want to do it.
> At the committal service, I sang, "Thy Holy Wings Dear Savior."  The chill 
> added extra vibrato to my voice, but I was determined to at least give 
> this gift, since I had not been able to sing to him one more time before 
> he left this earth.
> It was just a powerful few days for me.  Thank you for letting me share. 
> My mom is being amazing so far.  I think that all of us kids are so 
> worried about her.  We're constantly calling her to make sure that she's 
> okay and those who are close keep dropping in.  She has just been so 
> strong through all of this.
> I'll just share two more things, and then, I'll close.  Our church out 
> here in Glenburn, on their own, sent flowers to my family.  That is 
> incredible to me, that they would reach out beyond their circle to show 
> such honor to my Dad.  I can't tell you how good that made Greg and I 
> feel.
> Secondly, there is   a Steve Green song called, "Find Us Faithful."  Some 
> of the words in that song are, "After all our hopes and dreams have come 
> and gone and our children sift through all we've left behind, may the 
> clues that they discover and the memories they uncover become the light 
> that leads them to the road we each must find."  Well, when my Mom was 
> going through my Dad's wallet on Saturday, she found a little cross in it 
> that says, "Jesus Saves."  She has no idea how long he had carried it or 
> where he picked it up, but this little cross was placed in Dad's hands for 
> the viewing and the burial.  He had always had it with him and he still 
> does, but for a short time, everyone was able to see the testimony that my 
> Dad lived in deeds.
> God bless,
> Kathy