On Monday we drove over to Seaside with my parents in order to scatter Aunt Winnie’s and Uncle John’s ashes into the Pacific Ocean (per their request).  It was miserably cold and windy.  We’ve been to the Oregon coast many times, and this was by far the nastiest weather we’ve experienced while visiting.  Although it was not quite what our family envisioned for the “send-off” of our dear relatives, my dad did manage to say a few words out of his prayer book, and the ashes were released successfully into the ocean.

Poor Lex was freezing and just wanted to go back to the car:

The day did get better though after we left the frigid beach.  We all had a nice lunch together and shopped at the Seaside factory outlet stores before heading back to Portland.

Aunt Winnie’s memorial service was yesterday afternoon, and it went really well.  It was definitely a “Stewart production.”  My dad officiated and sang two songs, my mom read a poem, and I delivered the eulogy.  For those who are interested, I’ve included my eulogy below:

Aunt Winnie has always been more than just an aunt to me and my family.  She and Uncle John were really our only local Oregon relatives, so they played the role of ”surrogate grandparents” to my sister and me as we were growing up.  I remember that every time our family would stay with them at their house, Aunt Winnie would be sitting in a chair by the front window waiting for us and waving as we drove up in our car and ran eagerly to her front door.  Her house was always spotless, and I’m sure she inwardly cringed as my sister and I would race around her non-child-proofed home.  But she never let on.  She always welcomed us with open arms.

It’s funny how the simplest things leave the biggest impression on us sometimes.  I remember waking up those mornings to dishes rattling in the kitchen and the smell of toast in the air.  Aunt Winnie always cut banana slices into the bottom of our cereal bowls before we’d fill them.  And she’s the only person I know that ever kept cereal boxes in the dishwasher instead of using it to actually wash dishes.  After breakfast my sister and I would usually join Aunt Winnie and Uncle John in a walk around their block.  We’d always get to pick a hat from their collection.  I’d usually wear one of Uncle J’s fedoras, and my sister would pick a wide brimmed gardening hat of Aunt Winnie’s.

As the years passed, my parents moved back to Oklahoma, my sister moved to California, and we lost Uncle John.  But Aunt Winnie remained my one local connection to family, and my husband Tim and I visited her when we could.  And we brought along our son Lex, who is by now a local celebrity here at the manor.  When she was more mobile we would drive Aunt Winnie to her favorite restaurant, the Olive Garden.  She also loved Kentucky Fried Chicken and always told us excitedly when the manor would offer that as a yearly treat.  But her main vice was chocolate.  Aunt Winnie absolutely adored anything chocolate.  In fact, during her last hospital stay, when she was so weak she could scarcely lift her head, she still somehow managed to take several bites of the giant piece of chocolate cake that we smuggled into her room.

Aunt Winnie’s favorite colors were blue and purple.  And she loved flowers, as long as they weren’t smelly enough to aggrevate her allergies.  She had a sharp mind.  She was a planner, and attention to detail was her specialty.  She never missed sending a card for a birthday or a holiday.  While some of us are hard-pressed to sign anything but our names to a card, Aunt Winnie’s cards were always handwritten and filled out completely from front to back.  She would write about the weather or her favorite meals or simply her latest doctor visit.  She thrived on taking care of others, whether it was Uncle John or simply her friends here at the manor.  She knew who had to take a pill when, and who was allergic to what.

Aunt Winnie was such a generous lady.  She would always save the coupons out of her newspaper for me, so that I’d have a stack of them to take home with me by my next visit.  When she could no longer drive, she even gave her Ford Taurus to Tim and me…and we’re still driving it to this day.

Aunt Winnie didn’t like hot weather very much.  She appreciated Oregon for its cool climate.  But she very faithfully wore her clear plastic bonnet everytime she went outside even if it only threatened to rain.

Despite being sharp as a tack, Aunt Winnie was not very technologically inclined.  A television remote control was beyond her, and the fancy alarm clock we bought her for Christmas one year?  Forget about it!  (On second thought, I guess that’s why something electronic such as her dishwasher was simply used as storage space)

Aunt Winnie had a happy and fulfilling life…all 95 years of it.  And although my family and I miss her greatly, we take peace in knowing that she was eager and ready to pass on and be reunited with Uncle John once more.

We love you Aunt Winnie!

This morning was Lex’s first soccer class at Indoor Goals.  He had a lot of fun running around and kicking the ball.  (But sometimes it was a little hard to harness his energy and get him to focus on what his instructor was actually saying.)

Getting a hand stamp at the end of class:

One cool thing was that Zach Roloff happens to work at Indoor Goals, and he was being filmed for his tv show “Little People, Big World” this morning.  Our family was asked to sign a release form so they don’t have to blur out our faces in case any footage of us is aired on tv.

Today was also Aunt Winnie’s memorial service.  It went really well, but I’ll post the pictures from that another time.