Monday Monday

The 4th of February was the date of Mom's remembrance service in Belleville at Cathedral. Here is the obituary that was published:  Remembrance service

The funeral home helping us with this was fantastic, but they have done our family funerals for many years. Mom was also friends with one Mrs Renner, who was the mother of my first "boyfriend" when we were in the first grade. So it is no surprise that they take excellent care of all the family!

Monday was the final day of saying goodbye.  I must admit I never appreciated how beneficial it is for the bereaved to go through these rituals.  It really does help.  Especially Mom's first service in Scotland.  There she knew the minister and he knew and cared about her.  And many of her new friends attended, along with mine.  I felt this was enough, but she had asked to be taken home, so we did have to do it all again in the US!

I cannot say the mass was great though, more like a conveyor belt service, where the priest even asked my cousin if her eulogy would take long!

Being so cold, we did not have an actual graveside service following the mass, but the 15 car long procession from the church ended up at the chapel, which was also cold because they had not put on the heat!  There is a strong family connection at the graveyard, one of Mom's older sisters and her husband were instrumental in building the chapel and donated the beautiful cross hanging on the wall.  One thing we missed taking a picture of!

Here is a better picture of the Rohr/Sprague family plot taken by my cousin at a better time of year!

I wanted to see the actual gravesite and a whole bunch of folks came with me.  We had a surprisingly good time tripping over mud and slipping on snow, while all the time being amazed at the Rohr/Sprague family plot. The dates stretch back to my great grandmother who brought her family over from Germany!   Mom got the last plot and it felt right that she is now with so many of her family. 



After this, we all traipsed to Tavern on Main. http://tavernonmainbelleville.com/

One of my cousins was instrumental in finding this fabulous location and helping to organise the menu, including a wonderful version of St Louis Gooey Butter Cake.  This is a treasured childhood memory and only available in this area.  Another cousin had looked it up to see why it is unique to this area and I will attach the link so I don't have to retell the story.  But I am delighed to finally understand why I have never seen it anyplace else.    

The story behind Gooey Butter Cake:   Gooey Butter Cake
This picture is what we had!  But I never ate such fancy gooey butter cake before, usually it is without the sauces and ice cream.  And I would be delighted to eat it either way!

Very fitting that both Mom's funeral "teas" were held in a pub!   This is what happens when you live in Scotland!  Where else can families converge and have a wonderful and relaxed time together? 

After all this, the Graham's collapsed in a collective heap and slept the rest of the afternoon away. We only roused ourselves to get up, join a select few other cousins for a bite to eat and drink at TGIFridays before returning to our hotel to collapse again!

"Remember as far as anyone knows, we’re a nice normal family."
- Homer Simpson