Graveside services were held this afternoon at Quincy Valley Cemetery for Forry's Nephew Donald Hardt, who passed away April 23rd at the hospital in Wenatchee after a tumble down the stairs in his Quincy home.
We picked up Son Sean at his Spokane apartment about ten-thirty morning and headed to Quincy in Toad II. It had been quite a while since we had been down that way -- and I had forgotten how long it took. I passed a bit of the time "chatting" with Forry's great-nephew's wife Patti on Facebook. She and Great-Nephew Mel were coming from Vancouver, the opposite direction.
Don had been a member of the National Guard during the Vietnam era, though called up, his unit had not gone overseas. Eleven members of the military were present to give him Military Honors: a twenty-one gun salute and taps. (I had to explain to Sean - and Forry's Sister Grace - that seven men firing three volleys equaled twenty-one shots...) Don's ashes were interred on top of his father Melvin's grave. Forry's brother Melvin had been killed in a combine accident when Donnie was just a teenager.
Forry's family has scattered and it has been eight or ten years since we had seen some of his nieces and nephews, let alone some of the greats. It was great visiting with them at the cemetery, then the group adjourned to the local Moose Lodge for more visiting and a nice luncheon fixed by the Moose ladies.
I've always looked at Sean and thought he looked like Forry's mother's side of the family. Looking at him today with all of his male cousins, it was very obvious they all looked like the Steffen clan!
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