It was my pleasure to be able to visit family in Utah this week. It had been over a year since I had been there, as my last trip was for Walker and Jenn's wedding. This event was a much different type of gathering, but not without the joy of family and the celebration of the gospel and the goodness of God's love for his children.
The funeral ceremony was tender, sweet, humorous, and joyous. Hundreds of family and friends filled the chapel. Aunts LaNona and Julie held the audience enchanted as they read and shared the remembrances and stories given to them about Jason. Jason's parents, Tim and Mary, did the impossible by delivering thoughtful and heart-felt messages of loss, love, and hope. Two older siblings (Erin and Derek) are currently serving missions and were unable to attend in person, but they were clearly in the same room with the rest of us as brother Kyle read their letters and shared their spirit of familial love and gospel testimony. Musical numbers brought a tenderness to the event and there were few, if any, dry eyes.
The family had, earlier, congregated in the viewing room, around Jason's discarded body, for final farewells and a prayer. The very most difficult and touching moment was when the final good-byes were said and the coffin was closed. Eight year old Christa was the voice of expression for us all when she cried and said "I love you Jason!" while the lid was lowered and fastened shut for the last time.
The funeral ceremony was tender, sweet, humorous, and joyous. Hundreds of family and friends filled the chapel. Aunts LaNona and Julie held the audience enchanted as they read and shared the remembrances and stories given to them about Jason. Jason's parents, Tim and Mary, did the impossible by delivering thoughtful and heart-felt messages of loss, love, and hope. Two older siblings (Erin and Derek) are currently serving missions and were unable to attend in person, but they were clearly in the same room with the rest of us as brother Kyle read their letters and shared their spirit of familial love and gospel testimony. Musical numbers brought a tenderness to the event and there were few, if any, dry eyes.
The family had, earlier, congregated in the viewing room, around Jason's discarded body, for final farewells and a prayer. The very most difficult and touching moment was when the final good-byes were said and the coffin was closed. Eight year old Christa was the voice of expression for us all when she cried and said "I love you Jason!" while the lid was lowered and fastened shut for the last time.
Following the service we gathered at the Pleasant Grove cemetery where Tim dedicated the grave. Afterward we returned to a luncheon at the church that had been prepared by the Relief Society. The food was wonderful and the conversation was informal and friendly and the perfect ending to a day of mixed feelings. No one could escape the notion that Jason was missing; but no one, I think, could escape the feeling that we are all members of a large and thriving and happily supportive family.
