Homage and Bragging Rights!

I’d posted a little bit of information about this some time ago but this is an update!

I hope I don’t bore anyone! But I do hope at least a few will take the time to read this and see the accompanying pictures!

A year ago last January I called my oldest daughter/first born child and told her that her ‘Granny’ was going to be 80 in June and that she wasn’t going to live forever.

I asked her if she would co-sponsor a ‘Surprise Party’ with me as she has a beautiful home with a large fenced backyard that is very child friendly!

She said; “Dad, Let’s Do It”!

My mom turned 80 on Thursday the28^th of June and the surprise party was on Saturday the 30^th and it was a complete surprise!!!! We were hidden in the backyard and when mom stepped out the door and we all yelled “SURPRISE” she froze in the doorway and burst out “S**T! Everyone’s here! OH Damn You”!

Not everyone is in the picture! Some were great grandchildren in need of a nap and others either hadn't made it there yet when the picture was taken or had to leave for work obligations ! There had been a total of 26 in attendance!
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She had a great time!

Unfortunately I buried her the 28^th of July!

Fast Forward to today a little over a year after I buried her!

My oldest daughter designed mom’s headstone and it took awhile to get it done and placed so for a Father’s Day and Birthday present I asked that we go together to see it and then have lunch at my favorite pizza house that was in Clarkston WA another 35 miles down the road. The entire road trip was a little over 200 miles.

Here’s a picture of the headstone and my oldest granddaughter and youngest grandson!

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I need to inject that my mother loved playing music on either a piano or her portable organ especially what she called 'boogie woogie'!!! Her very favorite song was Glen Miller's rendition of 'In the Mood' and I had it played at the end of her services!

I hope all will enjoy!

Very nice,,,a good son you are,,,,,,

Flowers for your mother, from a land far away,,,

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Originally Posted by Hirlau

Very nice,,,a good son you are,,,,,,

Flowers for your mother, from a land far away,,,

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Thank you John! I know that it comes from your heart! I do wish were were closer and could spend some time getting to know each other better!

Was the picture of the flowers taken in Viet Nam??

I'm gonna head out west one of these days, to a Get-To-Gether,,,many of my friends here are out west.


,,,,getting to know me could ruin your reputation or get you tossed in jail,,, I think Trouble has a GPS attached to me,,,,:rofl2:

Sorry to hear about your loss, but fantastic that your mother had a wonderful party to enjoy first. Thanks for sharing your experience.

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Originally Posted by edhewitt

Sorry to hear about your loss, but fantastic that your mother had a wonderful party to enjoy first. Thanks for sharing your experience.

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Thank you! While I miss her very dearly we are all so glad that we had that party as she had the time of her life!!!

Even though I viewed her in the casket my memories are of her at the party and before!!

I guess that I should have mentioned that all 6 pall bearers where her grandsons! My son included! I wish I had a picture of them together as they were a fine looking bunch of young men!

Sorry for your loss.
Sounds like she was very LOVED!

Well, I'll admit to shedding a tear for you and your loss mate reading that. A great thing to have had such a great party to put in the memory bank. I'm sure she would be proud of you Roy old Mate. And what a head stone! I reckon I would just have a boulder thrown at me from the bucket of a front end loader as my headstone gift from family :).


Mick

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Originally Posted by MickR

Well, I'll admit to shedding a tear for you and your loss mate reading that. A great thing to have had such a great party to put in the memory bank. I'm sure she would be proud of you Roy old Mate. And what a head stone! I reckon I would just have a boulder thrown at me from the bucket of a front end loader as my headstone gift from family :).

Mick

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Hey My Good Mate!!

My youngest daughter was here with the grandkids today and read what you said and was touched but laughed her ass off at the 'boulder thrown at me from the bucket of a front end loader'!!!!!!!

You take care Mate!

Roy

Hi Roy, and john for that matter,
I was going through some stuff in my filing cabinet the other night, and found this that my cousin read at my grandmothers funeral a few years back.
Attachment 145093
I knew I had it somewhere, it just took me a while to find it.

Thanks Ed! That is very nice!

I'll do a little digging and find what my daughter (who designed the headstone) read at Mom's services.

I think I know where it is on the computer so it should be just a bit!

Thanks again!

Roy

While it's a little longer than what Ed posted, this is what my oldest daughter (and first born child and Mom and Dad's first grandchild) read at her services.

She had given me and the minister copies so that if she couldn't finish on her own, one of us could do so for her.

She was a true 'Davis' and mustered the strength to read it all, she had to stop a few times to compose herself but she did very well!

You will read how close she and my mom were


Where to start when there so many things to say. To see through the tears that are falling and tell you everything. I’ve known that nobody is immortal and that we all will pass at some point but there was always a little place in my head that thought you would be here forever. That I would never have to face this day and say all these things I want to you.

Not every grandchild gets to have a relationship with their grandmother like I have. For that I am thankful and probably so deeply saddened on this day and face this truth. I know you would tell me to smile cause "Life goes on Darling". And when I think of this phrase "Life goes on" I have to recognize, it does. The spirit of life that was lost in you goes on within us forever. Every person that was touched by you in no matter how small or large of a way lives on in us. What we each here have taken or learned from you will be shared with others. Our friends, our children even an acquaintance we may just meet once in a lifetime. "Life will go on"........forever because of what we have taken from knowing you.

I want to say Thank You for all the things you have done for me. From childhood through the mere short part of my life as a women so far. As a child teaching me to play jitterbug swing music on the keyboard. Oh, how I treasure the songs we played together. The games we would play at night, which even now you would bring up the fact how I would always cheat or make up new rules so that I would win. Thank you for being my guinea pig all those times I played with your hair, put make up on you, painted toenails and did perms and colors in the kitchen sink. Because of these nights I do this as a living and enjoy it. Never forgetting to turn the curling iron off, after leaving it on once on your brand new carpet, burning a hole completely through. Thank goodness I didn’t burn the entire house down. That’s probably the only time you were ever really mad at me. You took your life in your own hands more than once. Letting a 6 year old child use a hot curling iron on you, you said the pulling and yanking "hurt so good." How starting at 10 years old you would let me drive to town on the back roads. I look back and think; WOW, I’m glad we both survived!"

Thank you for being my biggest fan during my high school athletic career. I know you always were proud to say that in 3 year including home and away games you only missed 1. For such a little person you knew how to yell and cheer, you’d say how the tension and suspense just drove you crazy but that you loved every minute.

Everyone knows how hard of a worker you were. A little cleaning fanatic to say the least. Thank you for teaching me it didn’t matter what you have but that you make the most of it. That you should be proud of a clean house and that at least once a year you should move the furniture around cause was an inexpensive way to make the room seem new.

I remember calling one day as a young girl and asked you what you were up to and you told me you were just washing walls......I thought to myself you were a real nut. Who washes their walls??? Now I know and laugh every time that tedious job comes around. Walls really do get dirty.

Thank you for all the miles you burned on the road coming to town for school programs and events or to get me so I could come out for "SUPPER". I always thought it was funny you called dinner, "supper". And all the nights I stayed how you would make me a "night lunch" which in your terms was the little snack right before bedtime. Thank you for the summer sleep over’s you had with my daughter Sidney. I was so happy she got to share with you some of the things I remember as a child; picnic in the park, ice cream cones at Ray’s and a "night lunch". Oh how there is so many story to tell but so little time.

Things like these I have talked about are all part of the term "Life goes on".
These are all some of the things I will remember and share with my kids and with others so that through me your spirit keeps living on.

There are so much more I want to say but know that I don’t have to say them because you know. We shared everything, we could say anything. At times we laughed so hard that we cried, and that’s something special. You weren’t just my grandmother, you raised me like a daughter and most of all you were my friend. Today the tears I shed are because a big part of my life is gone but memories are not forgotten. A lot of who I am today is because of you, and I want to share that with everyone. I am glad to be who I am. I am Merna Davis’s granddaughter and for that I am proud. Like your co-worker and friend said to me when I told her you were gone...... "I am a better person for knowing Merna" and that is so true. I will miss you everyday that I wake and think about you because your "Life goes On" in me.

Written by: Rachel McCauley June 26, 2012

Roy your daughter has a way with words. She evoked the memories beautifully.

Wow. I hope I can leave an impression like that one day. What a wonderful thing to have.


Mick

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Originally Posted by MickR

Wow. I hope I can leave an impression like that one day. What a wonderful thing to have.


Mick

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My old mate, you will, trust me you will! Those three little darling girls (who thankfully look more like their mother) will remember you and cherish those memories!

I remember the pictures you sent me with you and them! They will remember you like that mate, they will remember and remember forever!! :tu

'Hard to write about this.

Cudarunner has a more highly developed sense of 'place' and roots than anyone I've known. Its not from being isolated from the world outside his home sphere - he's traveled. There's a clarity and wealth of character that's lost as we've become disconnected from our roots. Cudarunner is wealthy, indeed.

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Originally Posted by pinklather

'Hard to write about this.

Cudarunner has a more highly developed sense of 'place' and roots than anyone I've known. Its not from being isolated from the world outside his home sphere - he's traveled. There's a clarity and wealth of character that's lost as we've become disconnected from our roots. Cudarunner is wealthy, indeed.

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Hear, Hear! I second that!!

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Originally Posted by Razorfeld

Hear, Hear! I second that!!

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Thanks guys! I'd go into more detail about the trip and teaching my grand kids more about their heritage but I want this thread to be about mom and not me!

I'll start another thread with a link to this!

Roy

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Originally Posted by cudarunner

Thanks guys! I'd go into more detail about the trip and teaching my grand kids more about their heritage but I want this thread to be about mom and not me!

I'll start another thread with a link to this!

Roy

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Yes offtopicus is a terrible condition, I am afflicted terribly. Good that you are keeping it in check.

Here's a little bit about my mom's heritage!

This is what I gave mom at that 80th birthday party.

It's a harvest picture from 1917. The original was 4" high and 12" long and it had splatters and such all over it!

I paid a handsome price to have it digitally cleaned up and then enlarged to 8" by 24" and a very good friend made a custom frame out of aged cedar so the black and white picture was framed in black and white! (Black and White has varying degrees of 'Gray')!

Mom's grandfather James Clark is standing at the head of the team in a light wagon and there is a small boy standing beside him. That was mom's father (Roy Clark) and my name sake at the age of 12!

This is only the picture and not while framed!

Mom got to enjoy it for only a little less than a month!

I hope all will enjoy!

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Here's what the original looked like:

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Ya done good, Roy.

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Originally Posted by Wullie

Ya done good, Roy.

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Thanks my Texas Friend! I know you meant it! :bow

I was cleaning up the Boars Nest and found the card my mother had sent to me shortly after the surprise party that I'd posted about some time ago at this thread. I thought that I'd share her thoughts;

Dear Roy, Connor, Chris, Katie, Bowe & Chevelle.
I need to say Thank you one more time for making the fantastic surprise party you had for me.
I will remember and treasure it as long as I'm on this earth.

Love to all
grandma Tod

She was on this Earth less than a month after the party and probably less then three weeks from writing the thank you.

Boy does it make me want to hug her and talk to her again. Well maybe if I'm a good boy I will :shrug: