Frances Klaus Funeral-- Part 2

After the service, Liz, Sherrie, and I had a short time for a final family viewing. This was especially difficult.

I then joined the pallbearers to move the casket out to the hearse. It was raining quite hard by now (after last night's snow).

We took less-traveled streets over to Memory Gardens Cemetery. It was very hard to remember to go through stop signs and stoplights without stopping, but I still slowed down and was very watchful.

When we got to the cemetery, there was a back up for use of the two chapels. Some outside services had been moved inside.

The deacon gave a short service and then we went over to Bogies' for a luncheon. Everyone agreed that the food was excellent and it was a perfect place to have it.

So Long Frances, We Will Miss You.

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.

Frances Stories-- Part 2

In Case You're Wondering How Come There Were so Many Wisconsin Cars in the Parking Lot

Frances was noted for making some of the funniest comments. One time, we were in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. We parked at a store. On the way in, Frances asked, "How come there are so many Wisconsin cars in the parking lot?"

Green Eyes of Jealousy, or Was I Ever in Trouble

About two months ago, I was visiting Frances at Alden Terrace in McHenry, Illinois. She was unable to feed herself, so I was helping out. Her roommate, Violet, was sitting next to her and also having problems eating. Frances was doing her picky eating and not accepting much at all. She had her head down and appeared to be sleeping.

I gave Violet a few spoonfuls and suddenly felt that someone was watching me. I turned toward Frances and found her head to be up straight and a pair of green eyes boring holes into me. To say the least, I immediately quit feeding Violet and returned to tending to Frances expecting a lecture, but she was nice to me that time. When you were with her, You'd better be paying attention only to her.

The Three Amigos

I can only imagine the fun times and situations Frances got into with her good friends Vivian Olsen and Kay Etherington. The times we met them, it was definitely anything goes.

Another Member of "The Greatest Generation"

Having lived through both the Great Depression and World War II, Frances definitely was a member of the "Greatest Generation." The problems she had to surmount were considerable.

Well, One GOOD Thing about World War II

Had it not been for this war, I seriously doubt that Frances would ever have met her husband, Amby. He was from Green Bay, Wisconsin, and Frances from Abilene, Kansas. Her future husband was in ordinace and stationed at nearby Fort Reilly, Kansas. They met in Abilene at a dance. She was dating someone else at the time, but true love, you know.

I'll Tell You Which Way's North, Just Don't Ask Me Which Way is Left

Frances had a remarkable sense of direction. She could be anywhere and tell you which way was north, south, east, or west. However, she never knew her right and left. It was fun being in the car with her and giving directions. They'd all have to be translated in the cardinal directions. You just couldn't tell her to turn right. It had to be, turn east.

Some Frances Stories --Part 1

Visit Pike's Peak, but NOT in MY CAR!!!

Frances was very proud of her 1987 Buick Century, the first and only new car she ever bought on her own.

A year later, we went with her on a trip out to Kansas to visit her childhood home and friends. We also took a side trip out to Colorado and visited Colorado Springs. Liz and I wanted to go to the top of Pike's Peak, but Frances didn't want to, so she let us take her car.

Once there, we found out that the tickets to take the tram up were sold out until late afternoon. Not wanting to wait around or come back, we decided to drive up to the top. I don't mind telling you that this was one scary drive.

When we got back, we told Frances, and she hit the roof. She shrieked, "You could have wrecked my car!!"

"But Frances, if we had wrecked your car, we could have been injured or worse."

"I don't care!! You could have wrecked my car!!"

And we were her daughter and son-in-law.

She Sure Liked that Car.

Little Old Lady from Pasadena

I'm not saying that Frances had somewhat of a leadfoot when she was driving, but you definitely wouldn't want to get in her way. Even with all that speeding, she only got one ticket that I'm aware of, and was she ever mad about that.

She came out to see me once when I was deejaying and I dedicated "Little Old Lady from Pasadena" by Jan & Dean to her. Embarrassed her a bit, I believe.

Everything Set for the Funeral-- Part 2

The Cemetery

We drove from Ahlgrim's (always thought this to be a very appropriate name for a funeral home) in Palatine, to Memory Gardens in Arlington Heights so Liz could sign a paper to allow the grave diggers to open the grave. Normally, we wouldn't have had to do this, but Frances is going to be buried in the same vault as her husband Amby. They are buried in a section where the coffins are stacked on one another. This then, in effect, is the opening of a grave.

There was a very interesting picture taken of Memory Garden in 1950 when it first opened. You can see Rand Road (US-12) in the very top right portion. What floored us was that there were mostly open fields in the picture. Definitely not the situation anymore; houses and stores everywhere.

The person we talked with, Jim, is about our age and was in a 1960s Chicagoland rock band called Dawn & the Nights who evidently were quite good as they toured with Paul Rever & the Raiders and he was making $2000 a week back then, quite a bit of money even now, but especially back then when gas was just around 30 cents a gallon and a new car around $2000-3,000. Unfortunately, I had never heard of them.

We went out to the grave and made sure of the style of print.

How Much Does It Cost to Dig a Hole and Fill It In?

Ideally, we would have had Frances buried on Saturday, but the funeral home would be completely bonkers with two big wakes, one with 400 people and the other with several thousand.

They usually don't do funerals on Sundays (which I didn't know). The price to open a grave during the week is $1695. On Saturday it goes to $2495 and is $3500 on Sunday. These prices reflect how much the gravediggers union gets. I think I got into the wrong business to make money.

They don't even have to dig the whole, just clear off some dirt from above the vault, lift the lid off, drop the new casket in and close it.

Plus, it is hard to get a religious person to officiate on a Sunday.

We decided to have the funeral on Monday.

The Luncheon

As we were leaving, we mentioned to Jim that we were now going to look for a place to have the luncheon. He suggested the nearby Bogies in Mt. Prospect, right across from Randhurst.

We decided to have a look. Turned out, this was the only place we had to look. They cater to a lot of funeral luncheons and even have a brochure for it. We don't expect but about twenty people in the whole funeral but can get a private room and order off the menu or from their buffet. Put a $50 deposit to hold it.

We were getting hungry and had their excellent buffet which is American on Thursdays. Mondays, it is Italian.

Snow

What is it about every time we go to Palatine and Mt. Prospect that makes it start to snow. We had a big snowfall when we went back for our 40th anniversary of going steady in December, the same with our trip to visit Randhurst one last time, and now, today, it snowed again.

Maybe the snowmobilers should ante up to pay for us to make some more visits. However, they would have to sign a codicile saying that one of them would have to come up and clear off the driveway and sidewalks.

Everything Set for the Funeral-- Part 1

Yesterday, we went to Ahlgrim's Funeral Home in Palatine, Illinois, where the wake will be held. We finalized the plans with Brad, who helped us get everything set up in the pre-paid funeral we had to get in place in order for Frances to qualify for Medicaid coverage.


He used my 92nd birthday blog entry to prepare Frances' obituary.

Frances will not be happy that we included her age, but that is necessary. I sure hope she doesn't come back to get us for it. About two months ago, one of the employees at Alden Terrace had asked how old Frances was while I was there feeding her. I told her Frances was 92. Frances didn't say anything. About ten minutes later, very quietly and discreetly, Frances informed me in no uncertain terms that I was not to TELL anyone what her age was. All through her life, she wouldn't let anyone know how old she was. The most trouble Liz ever got in as a child was when she was caught with Frances' drivers license. Even at 92, she didn't want anyone to know her age. Even as I type this, I look around at every little noise. You just never know!!!

It didn't take too long as everything but the final details had been previously arranged.

Frances' Life

I entered a blog about her on her last birthday, her 92nd, on August 5, 2007. She was at Alden Terrace at the time and had been admitted, but we didn't tell her because of her feelings about nursing homes, something she fought against with vigor. I mean, real vigor.

I made a copy of it and showed it to her. It was supposed to go to the other folks at the nursing home to familiarize them with her.

She looked at it, and I'm not sure if she was joking about it or not, she said, after reading it, "This is my obituary."

You can read it by going back into the blog archives to August 5, 2007.

Frances Loretta Klaus 1915-2008

Yesterday was a very sad day for us. Liz lost her mother, Frances Klaus.

She had been at Alden Terrace Nursing Home in McHenry, Illinois, since July, and under hospice care since early January.

Her condition had been deteriorating for several years before this, and she was unable to move about on her own since September.

She was not suffering, but was extremely unhappy about her condition and had lost over 30 pounds since September and would not eat very much at all. Her vocal ability had also decreased and we were only able to understand about 10 percent of what she said toward the end.

She died very peacefully after a few last gasps. Both Liz and I were present at the time.

We know she is much happier where she is now.

Labor Day Weekend: Bands, Bars, Festivals, No Boating

Boating wasn't an option, even without the flooding. We generally stay off the Chain of Lakes on the weekends and especially holidays. We let the "weekend warriors" have their sway. Thank you very much, we'll go out on the weekdays.

SATURDAY I worked in the yard and fought mosquitoes. I planted eight tall phlox out by the deck flowerbed.

Then, we drove US-12 down to Wauconda where they were having a Main Street Festival. Old Rand Road, the original US-12 before the bypass, was blocked off and a great blues/rock band, Kevin Purcell and the Nightburners, was playing on a temporary stage.

We had some cotton candy for the first time in a long time. We had forgotten how little there is of it. The Rotary Club was selling it and the poor guy at the machine had cotton candy up to his elbows.

Lots of restaurants were offering food. I had an excellent burrito from a Mexican place for $4. Sat at a table and talked with another couple. They had been married for two years, BUT, had been married before and then divorced. They had met again at their daughter's wedding and the flame rekindled. That was a neat story. We found out they were also into the two lane roads so talked about some of our experiences.

SUNDAY I listened to Bob Stroud do his final Summer of Love installment. Today, he played the songs we were listening to on our radios back on this date in 1967. That was 40 years ago, and in Chicago, we were listening to WLS and WCFL. I'll print out the playlist later. I'm sure they will bring back some memories.

I then went to Alden Terrace in McHenry to visit with Frances.

Came home and then Liz and I drove to Twin Lakes, Wisconsin, for some of the World's Greatest Bloody Marys at Main Street. The big talk was about Wisconsin's easy victory and Appalachian State's great upset of Michigan. There are not too many Wolverine fans in Wisconsin.

Played NTN at Donovan's then drove back to the Chain of Lakes.

Passing over the Grasslake Bridge, we only saw about ten boats going no wake. Normally, on Sunday, you'd see close to a hundred and even more on a Labor Day weekend. The flooding has really put a damper on the celebration.

We went to Captain's Quarters to see Cirrus Falcon, one of out favorite bands. All those people who weren't out on boats were in here. There were no seats anywhere, so we left.

Drove Grasslake Road down to the Harbour Lounge and went outside to the tiki bar. When it comes to bands, we almost ALWAYS arrive when they're just going on break. However, this band was breaking down their equipment at 4 PM, way to early for an afternoon set. We found out that someone had complained and the police had told the owner that the band had to stop.

The owner had them move inside, but, again, we couldn't find seats so went home.

TODAY I enjoyed the deck, planted some more perennials, and caught some sun.

We went over to Alden Terrace so we could take Frances to the Labor Day celebration there. A guy was playing a piano with backing music and playing the Big Band songs this elderly group would like. He was quite an entertainer and everyone was having a great time.

Pretty Good Labor Day Weekend if You Ask Me. --RoadDog

Frances Turns 92!!!

My mother-in-law, Frances, turns the ripe old age of 92 today. We are going out to visit her at Alden Terrace in McHenry in just a little bit.

She was born in Kansas on August 5, 1915, and grew up in the very small town of Holland, near Abilene. She stayed with people in Abilene to go to high school as there was not one near her home.

She started working as a bookkeeper in the office of Duckwall's Five and Ten store in Abilene right out of high school.

Frances met her future husband, Ambrose, during WWII, while he was stationed at Abilene. He was a captain in ordnance from Green Bay, Wisconsin. They no doubt would not have met had it not been for the war.

He had a series of jobs after the war as a traveling auditor for Rheem and Mall Tool Corporation that took him to Oakland, Ca, Elizabeth, NJ, New Orleans, La, and Houston, Tx. They settled in Chicago and my wife, Liz, was born in 1951.

He always wanted to own his own business and in 1955 opened Fran's (named after Frances) Delicatessen on Chicago's West Side. He ran that until a Jewel Tea grocery store opened and put him out of business.

Frances continued to work as a bookkeeper at Steel Fabricating and Checkline Corporation in Chicago during this time.

He then got a job at the General Finance Corporation in Evanston. This company made loans to people. He retired in 1981. In the meantime, they moved out to Palatine, Illinois, where I met Liz.

They lived in the house on Patricia Lane until Ambrose died in 1986. The following year, Frances moved to a two bedroom apartment in Arlington Heights and lived there until 2004. She then moved to an assisted living apartment on the square in Woodstock, Illinois.

Here's hoping for many more birthdays to quite a remarkable woman.

Don