My Father's Memories

My Dad just wrote this as a comment about our Aunt Gertrude's funeral and I wanted to make it easier for everyone to read.


We just returned from the funeral. The service was held in the Scottsboro United Methodist Church. Burial was in the family plot in Scottsboro. She lived a wonderful life. Prior to the service I requested that family and friends be able to say a few words at the service. This was met with some resistance from the pastor but he agreed as long as it did not take too long. It seems ironic that the pastor at a 101 year old's funeral should be in a hurry to stay on some phony schedule. It was puzzling to me but I was just thankful that he let us do it. I lead off the comments. First I said that Aunt Gertrude had made a huge impact in our lives, (arms spread wide) a really huge impact for us kids, most of us seated here in the front few rows (pointed to the first couple of rows) Leedy and Rick, Andy and kids, Newton and Ann Walker, Vesta Lou, Mom, Jennie Garner. Second I told everybody that Scott Skelton and I had several phone conversations since Aunt Gertrude had passed and Scott was really hurting because he could not attend the funeral. During one of our conversations Scott asked me why Aunt Gertrude was so easy to be with. I said it was because she knew who she was, what she was and there was no pretense. Then I told them a story about sitting at my Grandparents house, eating lunch one day and we heard a terrible crash outside. We all ran to the front porch and saw two cars in the ditch across the highway. One was Aunt Mattie Lou's car and the other one was the car that had hit hers. The Aunts were down at the "Cabin" that day and were waiting on Mattie Lou to get there for lunch. As she was turning in the guy behind her did not notice her blinker, tried to pass, they crashed. Everybody was ok and while they waited on the Highway Patrol the Aunts invited the man down to the "Cabin" for lunch. I ended that segment, "Anytime I think about Aunt Gertrude I automatically think about all of them, Beryl, Mattie Lou, Lillian and Gertrude. It was just automatic", guess it will always be that way. Several people told me after the service that was also true for them. Several people got up and spoke, most were former students of hers that told what a huge impact she had made in their lives and how she had inspired them to go into teaching.We saw many friends and family members that we had seen in recent years at Aunt Gertrude's Birthday parties and several more that we had not seen in many many years. Billy Cowley, an old friend I had not seen in probably 40 years came to the service. We got to visit a little before the service. Will Stockton drove all the way from Pennsylvania and I got to visit with him about the old farm place. I have not seen Will in over 40 years I guess. We walked over some of Grandfather Stockton's farm and I pointed out where several features had been and we walked back to the old barn, share cropper's chimney(house site), and the ever flowing spring that used to be a community gathering place and cooler for milk, eggs, etc. Then Carter took us for a ride up the mountain to the top in his 4 wheel drive truck. Jennie Garner and my mom Jenny Eaves also went in the bumpy, jumpy, rough ride over the old Stockton mountain. It was worth it though as we had some beautiful views from the top. This is a route that Scott and Andy and I used to climb at least a couple of times a summer. Thank you God for our Aunt Gertrude.
March 27, 2008 4:41 PM