Norene's Funeral

First of all, we want to thank all those who have supported us through the last few weeks and with the funeral. It was great to see so many people come to the viewing and funeral. It was a great tribute to my mom, but also a great comfort to us as a family. Thank you for all the many kind words that have been sent as well. I know some weren't able to make it to the funeral and I (Kara)wrote about it to John in pretty good detail, so I thought I would post that portion of my letter:

We had a display set up in the primary room. There were two bulletin boards in the back - one displaying the quilt from the Relief Society and the other displaying all the many cards we received. The we had a bunch of different tables. There was a long table in the middle that had large pictures of her as a baby, 8 year old, high school, college and wedding pictures. Surrounding those were small tables displaying her hobbies. One was a "librarian" table, one was a "music" table, one was "doll/sewing" table (that had Jenny's wedding doll, my baptism doll and your doll), one was a "travel" table (with some bells and pictures of us on vacation), and then there was a "family" table which had our scrapbook that we gave mom along with a couple of family pictures. Also in the primary room were the two videos that Brian made and some chairs where people could sit down and watch while they waited. In the Relief Society room we had all of our nice family pictures from the living room and family room. We also had a picture of you and a big picture of mom. There was tons of beautiful flowers. Dad's was a heart with read roses. The one from the children were yellow roses and daises. I asked Chantel to make a little pillow for mom (which you'll see in the pictures) and it was so cute. It really softened up the harshness of the casket - I thought. I only asked her the day before and she stayed up all night doing it. We all wore yellow - we really weren't planning on it that way, but it just came together and I'm so glad, it was so nice and cheerful. Mom had bought yellow dresses for the granddaughters in Febuary, which they wore. Then I had a yellow shirt, Jenny a yellow skirt and Wendy a yellow cardigan. All the boys had yellow ties. It was so nice. The viewing was supposed to be from 6-8, but it started about 5:45 and didn't get over until after 9:00 - there was a long line the entire time. The funeral was perfect - a little long, I guess - but still so nice. Jenny and I did a life sketch. Nathan's talk was very nice - he incorporated your words as well. All the aunts, uncles, cousins, and great grandchildren sang a medley of primary songs: I Love to See the Temple, Families are Forever, Teach Me to Walk and I Wonder When He Comes Again. Then all the children (and spouses) sang my arrangement of Where Can I Turn for Peace. That turned out beautiful as well. We were determined to get through it without crying. We said a prayer before hand and it was just right. Then Pres. Tippets spoke, Elder Pinegar and the Bishop had a few remarks as well. Afterward there was a lunch which was so nice. There were about 200 people there (for the lunch). For the funeral - it went back and filled half of the gym. Then we kind of had to hurry the cemetery to be out there by 4:00. When we got there we realized there was a huge mistake. I guess there was another burial near mom's earlier that morning and they buried that person in mom's grave. Kind of weird. Dad went ahead and dedicated the grave and then insisted that the cemetery fix the mistake that night. Aunt Carolyn had reserved a church to visit in afterward (especially for all the people that came from Arizona). We went and hung out there, but then Dad and Nathan went back to the cemetery before they buried the casket to see for themselves that it was in the right spot. Dad was good about it, but he was little stressed at first. Naturally. All in all it was a good day. It was wonderful to have the love and support from so many people.