Frances' Funeral-- February 4, 2008-- Part 1

We sure had some weather for the event. We had a surprise snowstorm Sunday night of about five inches, so I had to get the snowblower out to clear the snow off before we could leave. The drive there was extremely sloppy with spray thrown up and I used a lot of windshield solvent. The, we had a regular deluge of rain during the visitation and drive to the cemetery.

Sherrie, Liz's cousin from Missouri, had driven through the storm last night. We drove to Stonebridge Apartments on US-12 in Arlington Heights and picked up Frances' friend Sarah. It brought back memories from the number of times we went there during the almost 18 years Frances lived there.

We had some extra time so went by Liz's home on Patricia, mine on Anderson, and the Klaus' first place in Palatine on Boynton.

At Ahlgrims Funeral Home, we were amazed at how good of a job they had done on Frances. She looked better than we had seeen her in a year. We had considered a closed casket because of all the weight she had lost. There was a beautiful spray of flowers on the casket and an arrangement of flowers from my family standing beside it.

We had a total of 18 people at the visitation and service. Most of them were neighbors from the Patricia Lane home. Liz was shocked to see the young Liz she used to babysit for from across the street all grown up at 40 years of age and with four kids. Quite a few of the ladies from Frances' breakfast group were there, and two from where she worked.

A deacon from St. Thomas of Villanova officiated at the service. This is the church Frances went to. I got up and gave a few of the stories I've written about on this blog. They were well-received. "How Great Thou Art" was played at the beginning of the service and "Amazing Grace" at the end.