Issue 12

Mom called last Sunday to say that Grandpa Norman had passed away. It wasn’t much of a surprise since she had told me during the previous week that his health was quickly failing. I was a little sad, but knowing that ninety-seven years was a long life, and that he was reunited with his wife, made his passing far from tragic.

The Trip

A bunch of us from Utah piled into a couple of vans to make the trip to California for Grandpa’s memorial (it was not a funeral, as Mom says). It has been quite a while since I’ve been on a car trip that long – it took about ten hours – but I actually enjoyed it. Anita and Lenore did all the driving on the way down, so it was a time for me to relax, read a novel and munch on Doritos.

We arrived at Uncle David’s house in Chino Friday evening, and I started an oft-repeated process of re-introducing myself to relatives I haven’t seen in a lot of years. We had some pizza, and watched the last half of Escape from LA. The movie was pretty lame, but there was some novelty in the fact that we had just arrived in the area it is set in. Linda was away at a Sweet Adelines retreat, so Cheryl acted as hostess and found us all places to sleep. My cousins have a higher tolerance for lack of sleep, so I was one of the first to snuggle under some blankets on the couch.

Saturday morning, we got spiffed up and headed for Long Beach. I wore my charcoal, banker stripe suit, which seemed appropriate even though I’m beginning to really dislike it. I think the last time I wore it was for the Mount Timpanogos Temple dedication in 1996. I could have sworn that I stopped growing on my mission, but this suit seems to fit a slightly shorter person.

The Service

The memorial service was held at the Long Beach Fourth Ward Chapel, which is where Grandpa served as bishop for several years. There was a viewing in the Relief Society room, and we were there early enough that I could spend a little time alone with Grandpa’s so, so still body. Even so, I expected him to give me some advice at some point.

Mom, Dean, Phyllis and Jeff showed up after a little while, so it was nice to see some immediate family in addition to all the cousins, aunts and uncles.

After a standing room only family prayer, the service started with a rendition of Families Can Be Together Forever by all the grandkids present.

The services had a nice feeling to it – there were some fun stories about grandpa, like a time he and Uncle Dick went to Home Depot a couple of years ago. Grandpa paid with a check, so the clerk wanted to see his driver license. After looking at it, the clerk said, “Hey, they forgot to put your birth date on here. It just says ’00’.” Uncle Dick explained, “No that’s correct – he was born in 1900.” The clerk was shocked and proclaimed to the rest of the people waiting in line, “This man is 96 years old!” Grandpa then turned and waved like a celebrity.

There was also a fair amount said about Grandpa’s role in overseeing much of the construction of the chapel we were in. When it was remodeled a few years back, a demolition crew started working on knocking down the steeple. They thought it would just take a couple of shots with the wrecking ball, but ended up taking a couple of days of pounding before it finally relented.

Toward the end, my cousin Dan sang a nice solo of How Great Thou Art, and I was kind of wishing I could get up there and add some tenor. He did wonderfully, but it would have been fun to join in.

I was one of the pallbearers, so I helped carry the casket to the hearse. There was a heavy rain falling.

The drive to the cemetery was though the side streets of Long Beach with police motorcycles giving escort and blocking traffic. They had a small tent set up graveside, but the rain had pretty much stopped by then. The proceedings there were short and sweet, with cousin Dalan doing the dedication.

We headed back to the church for a luncheon after that, and I was thinking the whole way that it was going to be sandwiches. I was so pleased that it was potluck.

The Nostalgia Tour

After the suits gave way to jeans, we drove over to Grandma and Grandpa’s old house. It looked like it always did when we used to come down in visit in the summers when I was young. I remember loading up in the car for the 1000 mile trip from Portland, finally getting to look at the books and activities that Mom had gotten us to pass the time.

We were supposed to pick up a cedar chest to bring back to Aunt Jean, which we found back in Grandpa’s workshop. Grandpa’s normally neat garden was a tangle of grass, and the path was strewn with branches. The older cousins found that the smell of the workshop brought back a lot of memories. It just smelled musty to me, but I guess the workshop had always been off-limits when I was there.

We drove around the block and saw that there are still some horses around, and took a peek at the catwalk. The catwalk, which goes over a busy road and under the freeway, was always an adventure. As Kerry said, it’s like a whole new world on the other end of the catwalk. I remember a dusty field with “grasshopper” oil wells pumping. I also remember cutting my foot on some glass in the catwalk once. I think our idea of first aid at the time was to catch the blood in a fast food box so it wouldn’t get on the cement.

When we used to visit in the summers, we would frequently spend time at Grandma and Grandpa’s house, but we looked forward to staying with the Taylors as well. They liked it when we came, too, because we were their Disneyland Cousins. They lived just down the road from the Magic Kingdom, but didn’t get to go unless we were there visiting.

We drove to their old house in Garden Grove, and where Grandma and Grandpa’s house was instantly recognizable, the old Taylor house looked totally different. I remember it being green, but it is blue now, and the landmark tree in front was gone. We used to climb the tree a lot, and at night watch the Disneyland fireworks from there. We didn’t go around back to see if the clubhouse is still there. The new owners probably thought it was weird enough to have two van loads of people stopping in front and taking pictures.

The last stop in Garden Grove was In-n-Out Burger, and from there we drove out to Dick and Barbara’s house.

There we had all the cousins assembled, and we all got reacquainted. At the end of the night I could name everyone and their relationships.

After another night on Uncle David’s sofa, I was ready to head home again. The trip home was uneventful, but I had to drive for a while, so I didn’t quite finish my book.

All in all, I was happy that I went. I missed Shannon and Ethan, but it was great to see family again.

One final, fond memory of Grandpa is having him seal Shannon and I in the Jordan River Temple. We were so glad that he could do that for us.

Grandma & Grandpa Norman
August 8, 1986

Love,

Eric James Smith, Ed.

Copyright (c) Eric Smith, 1989-1998, All rights reserved.