Our Sister, Lucy

Lucy

DeLoy Esplin, 1-11-2013

Lucy was mortal

As each of us are.

Now, she's immortal

As each of us will be.

(Used without permission, as usual.)

I'm not partial to pictures of caskets
but I like this one
because it tells a story.

Lucy knew exactly what she wanted in a casket.

She hoped to get to Orderville to pick it out.

Since that didn’t happen,

her family chose one as close to her wishes

as they could.

White birch.

Pink.

Hand-crafted by our cousin Osa’s son.

But that’s not the story;

Except that most people don’t care to

pick out their own caskets.

Verla told Dennis Mosdell,

the mortician from Kanab,

that no one had more fun dying than Lucy did.

Dennis is married to our cousin Lurana.

Actually Lurana is more than a cousin.

Her mother, our mother’s niece,

was Mama’s best childhood friend

growing up on the Ranch

in bucolic Moccasin.

Dennis has some pictures of Mama

and his mother-in-law, Jennie,

that he promised to send us.

Verla saying how much fun Lucy had dying,

prompted Dennis to tell us

this story at the viewing in Cedar City:

“Lucy called me everyday for weeks

with instructions on how to take care of her

and fix her up for her viewing.

She told me that she didn’t want

her makeup to run;

and not too much.

She told me how to fix her hair.

She asked me to drive over from Kanab

so she could talk to me in person

but her daughters persuaded her

that they were sure I got it.

I told Lurana as I was working on her body

that I was sure Lucy was standing right beside me

making sure I did it right.”

She did look beautiful and at peace.

Her makeup was just right.

After the services,

I say to Verla,

“Well, that’s a different side of Lucy

than we ever saw.”

We didn’t even know she played Boggle.

Evidently, no one could beat her.

Why didn’t she bring it to our Sisters' Retreats?

I wrote to our brother, DeLoy,

who was unable to attend.

“Lucy's funeral was exceptionally nice.

Everyone was impressed

with Effie, Jolene, and Bryant's talks,

also Jenifer, her granddaughter;

and superior singing

by Jolene's and Effie's daughters.

I Know that My Redeemer Lives

When it’s Springtime in the Rockies,

I’ll be coming back for you.

If the Savior Stood Beside Me

And the 84 grand- and great-grandchildren

I Am a Child of God

The whole service was inspiring

and left the rest of us wondering

what anyone could say about us at our funerals

and who would sing?”

Lucy's brothers and sisters, taken at the church later in the afternoon just before traveling home (after we had taken off our lace collars and silk dresses):  Verla, Lynn, Jerry, Jeanette, Carol.  Absent:  DeLoy; & Shirley who went home before we remembered to take pictures. She hates to have her picture taken so she would have been happy to miss it.

 DeRay and I are interested

in cardboard or disposable caskets.
***

My Grandmother Heaton

was the first one to die in her big family.

At the funeral,

they took a picture of all her brothers

and sisters

and inserted her in.

THE CARROLL FAMILY - Grandma inserted back row center.

We could insert

Lucy,

Shirley and DeLoy

in our family photo above.