Funeral for February First

I met Jean Perry in the summer of 1979. Now, nearly 33 years later, we laid Jean to rest just a few miles from where I met him.

If there's something good about funerals, it's family getting together. Jean's kids, their wives and children were all there as well as Daryl's sister, mom and a favorite cousin from South Texas. And it's nice the way friends and community members gather around to support and comfort the mourners.

Daryl officiated the funeral service and spoke about Jean as if he were a saint, which he wasn't. He told us that Jean was in a better place, paradise for eternity. I was wondering, what's the criteria to get admitted into paradise? The scripture, "Judge not lest ye be judged" reminded me that it's not up to me who gets in where, I just need to worry about myself.

Daryl was with Jean when he died. Daryl took his hand and said, "When the Lord reaches out for you, take hold of his hand." Jean answered, "I already did." He died just a few minutes later. That explained why Daryl said Jean is in heaven.

A funny piece of trivia was that Jean and Phyllis (an aunt on Daryl's mom's side of the family) were mixed double tennis champs in High School. I didn't know they played tennis in Frederick, OK back then and it's still a funny picture in my mind of Jean and Phyllis with tennis rackets in their hands.

Now that we've got the February funeral out of the way, bring on the February fun!

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