My aunt Bernita has passed away. She had been in failing health for a few months and while this isn’t entirely unexpected (none of us get out of this life alive, anyway), it is still sad. Aunt Bernita was married to my mother’s next older brother Art. He died of a heart attack when I was ten years old. School had just started for the year and my sisters and I stayed with our grandmother and grandfather Smith in Preston while mom and dad (and my kid brother) went to Utah for the funeral. Trevor is buried in the same cemetery — which is also the place where Nina and I have our burial plots.

Aunt Bernita married twice after that and the last marriage appeared to be a happy marriage for both her and Bryce. I have several memories of Aunt Bernita. She worked for many years for Utah Power and Light and I’m pretty sure she retired from there. She faithfully attended the Gillette Family functions whenever possible and it was fun to visit with her. I don’t remember going very often to her place except for a Thanksgiving dinner where I got scolded for spilling my water (some of my kids can relate to that…!!). She worked at being a part of the Gillette Family and she’ll be missed at the family events. I know that I’ll miss seeing her and visiting with her. Godspeed, Aunt Bernita.

I understand that the funeral will be on Monday in Salt Lake. We’ll be going down and hopefully will be able to take mom and dad with us so that they won’t have to drive down and back by themselves. We can also stop over and see Aunt Marj while we’re there. She’s now in a nursing home after a difficult bout of pneumonia and probably won’t be able to ever go back to living on her own. That’s another difficult transition as well.

Well, this post is all full of dour news! There are bright spots as well. Spring is definitely here and Nina and I are in the middle of building some garden boxes to be put out back. Nina would like to have stuff planted before we leave on vacation on May 12th. In preparation for that trip we’re also working on the motor home getting it ready to go. There are lots of little things to do around the house in preparation as well. I’m looking forward to the trip. Life is good.