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.
