An interesting weekend

Well, we had an interesting time this last week. Last Thursday, Rob's grandpa, Bob von Bose, left for his heavenly home early in the morning. He'd just come home from a rehabilitation center the afternoon before. He'd suffered a hemorrhagic stroke some weeks earlier which has a very low rate of full or near full recovery as well as a very low survival rate by the one year mark. He'd experienced some other health issues earlier but is generally pretty healthy and functioning workably, especially for an 85 year old. As soon as he was transported home, his body began it's shut down. He made it clear that he wanted to stay home before he slipped into a coma, dying within a few hours. We're all thankful it was a peaceful way to pass away even though we would have loved for him to stay with us longer.
He has an extremely large group of family and friends who are going to miss him and the great influence he had on their lives. Rob has always looked to Grandpa as a mentor for his love of engineering and especially "tinkering". Grandpa was an amazing engineering and creative genius. He has been a great inspiration to Rob in both professional and personal pursuits. They've enjoyed many conversations through the years and found each other to be kindred spirits.
I felt very lucky to have had a special conversation with him last summer during our family reunion in California. I was able to have him tell me about the car accident that killed his beloved wife, Pat, over 30 years ago. There were many details that I'd not ever heard before. We both enjoyed a good cry as he told the story. It was so clear how deeply he loved her, how close his grief felt while he talked about losing her. This legacy of love and devotion is one of his great legacies that I definitely feel I benefit from by being married to his wonderful grandson.
His funeral was Saturday and was a very special event. The funeral was held in the chapel we attended when Kyrie was born & blessed. We also found out it was where Pat's funeral was held which made it so sweet. There was so much family that they had to clear more rows in the front of the chapel as we filed in. It was great to see. The funeral proceedings were so touching with many wonderful memories and lovely music.
Rob was one of the pallbearers which he, of course, felt honored by. He helped transport the flag-draped casket out to the hearse. We all followed it in an extremely long funeral procession. Everything was perfectly set up and ready. The funeral home did a truly exceptional job, at least with what I saw. It all went so smoothly. I can see the appeal of doing a job like that. It would be very rewarding to help a family through such a difficult experience and make it as smooth for them as possible. Of course, I'm sure it can be very emotional taxing but it could surely be rewarding. I digress.
There was an honor guard there since Grandpa fought in WWII. I've never seen them do a flag-folding ceremony in person and it was so perfect. It was so dignified and precise; so respectful. It made me cry like a baby but I'm always teary-eyed about patriotic things, especially something so meaningful. When they presented the flag to Dottie, his wife, it was so emotional. Kudos to those soldiers.
Another congregation provided a lunch for the entire family. We had a wonderful time reminiscing. Many of us in-laws were patting ourselves on our backs for how smart we were to marry into such a fantastic family. :-) It really made for a wonderful day to celebrate the amazing life of an incredible man and the legacy he left behind.
Here's a picture from a visit in Spring 2003.