The Aftermath … and Links to Pictures and Movies

General

Saturday was a very nice day. Even though it rained (everywhere except at the cemetery) and stayed quite cloudy the entire day, everything associated with dad’s funeral went very well.

  1. I put my pictures from Saturday onto a slideshow. Clicking on the link should cause the slideshow to open in your movie application.
  2. I took some video at the cemetery with my little point-and-shoot camera. The video includes the bugler playing taps. Very touching.
  3. Lots and lots of family came to the funeral and most went to the cemetery and to the luncheon afterwards. I really appreciated getting to see many relatives I haven’t seen in a long time.
  4. While funerals like this are also kind of family reunions, there is never enough time available to chat with people in attendance. There were many people there I would have liked to have visited with, but there was no time.
  5. The sun did shine briefly, just as Uncle Nate was saying the dedicatory prayer. I was standing outside of the canopy that the funeral home had set up and could feel the sun on my head. It made me cry (again).
  6. The Sims Funeral Home provided for us outstanding service. They are very professional and kind and courteous. Darren and his father Duane are great people.
  7. The Soda Springs 8th Ward Relief Society raised the bar with this funeral. From Monday evening when dad died through Saturday evening after everything was pretty much finished, food showed up regularly. There was quite a houseful of people at mother’s and no need to do any cooking. If anyone went hungry, it was definitely their own fault.
  8. Mother is doing very well. She’s gotten a couple of good nights’ sleep since the funeral and is busy wrapping everything up. She’s still got a lot of stress in her life, but as the new “normal” settles in and she gets her new routines set, that stress will dissipate.
  9. I’ve started the process of figuring out probate in the State of Idaho. The court house in Soda Springs was not helpful (all they would say was, “hire a lawyer”). There should be no reason for simple, straight-forward estates with the appropriate paperwork such as wills and trusts already completed to have to hire a lawyer in order to gain access to the forms and paperwork needed to file with the magistrate court. Soda Springs is part of Idaho’s Sixth Judicial District and it looks like there is a Court Assistance Office open in Pocatello each day from 9-10 am and 2-3 pm. I think I’ll go there tomorrow to see if they can give me any assistance. My hopes are not very high.
  10. I’ve started putting together a SmugMug website where the slideshow and video will eventually be stored. I’ve gotten very tired of Flickr and it’s lame capability. SmugMug has significantly more capability, including being able to be linked directly to my blog.

Ten Things for Today

TripleT
  1. We’ve gotten to know the road between our house and Soda Springs very well. We’re actually quite entertained by the road construction between McCammon and Lava and between Fish Creek Pass and Soda Springs. It’s interesting to see what has changed since we were through there last. Last usually means yesterday.
  2. Life insurance companies definitely aren’t interested in talking to you. I’m sure it’s because they will have to pay out money. In every case they send a claim form in the mail, which we should receive in seven to ten business days. After verifying the claim, they’ll make a payout in six to eight weeks.
  3. Of all the agencies and companies I’ve talked with in the last several days, the most helpful, courteous, and quick was the Veterans Administration. They had the shortest wait time before answering the phone, and were very quick and efficient. Kudos to the VA!
  4. Social Security was an interesting phone call. I was put on hold six times during the conversation so the guy on the other end could enter some information in the computer. While on hold, music would play for about ten seconds followed by an announcement that they’re sorry I’m having to wait so long, but stay on the line and I’ll surely get helped. However, maybe I could do whatever it was I was doing using the internet. Then ten seconds or so of music and a repeat of the announcement. Each of the holds was fairly long, six to ten minutes, and it didn’t seem like it should take the guy that long to do something. I got very tired very quickly of the announcement.
  5. A Power of Attorney isn’t much help if it doesn’t have language that provides for survivor rights. Otherwise, the power of attorney becomes immediately null and void when the principle dies. The lawyer in town is doing up some new power of attorney forms for mother on an emergency basis. We need them right now.
  6. Funerals, particularly those for people who have lived long, good lives, are great family reunions as well. It looks like sixty or seventy relatives will show up for the funeral and burial on Saturday.
  7. Dad’s absolute favorite beverage was Caffeine Free Diet Coke (and his most disliked beverage was plain old water). Mother, being the frugal and prepared person she is, has six cases of Caffeine Free Diet Coke in the hallway. No one else there drinks the stuff (who wants water that has been artificially carbonated and then laced with chemicals to make it taste sweet with a Coca Cola flavor?). The suggestion on the table is to take it down to the nursing home so they can have a party….
  8. It’s impossible, I think, to write an obituary that is absolutely correct. Errors of omission are much more difficult to spot than mistakes in what is written. I got a phone call from someone in Blackfoot, Idaho this morning. Dad’s obituary was printed in today’s Idaho State Journal where that person had read it. They called with condolences and to point out two errors of omission. The obituary is posted in this blog … but I’ve already corrected it so you’ll not know what I left out.
  9. My sister Eileen suggests that proof reading has to be done by the most obnoxious person associated with whatever is being printed. They’ll be sure to ridicule every mistake. On the other hand, close friends / relatives don’t make good proof readers. They assume I know what I’m doing.
  10. Nina and I have been called as Ordinance Workers at the Idaho Falls Temple. On Friday mornings, starting tomorrow, we need to be in the Temple, dressed in our white clothes, and in the chapel ready for prayer meeting at 5:00 a.m. That means getting up at 3 a.m. and driving away from the house at 3:45 a.m. I’m not looking forward to the early mornings, but I am really looking forward to working in the Temple once again.

Planned Funeral Service for Dad

General

Roland Burton Smith

Birth: April 9, 1921, Cleveland Idaho
Death: August 3, 2009, Soda Springs, Idaho

Funeral Services

Saturday, August 8, 2009, 11:00 AM
Soda Springs Hooper LDS Church

Family Prayer: Ross Smith (brother)

Prelude & Postlude: Jan Mumford
Chorister: Heather Brown (granddaughter)

Officiating: Bishop Alan Skinner

Opening Song: #292 O My Father

Invocation: Christine Smith (daughter in-law)

Speaker: Perry LeRoy Smith (son)
Musical Number: A Brown Bird Singing
Dave Summers
Acc: Jan Mumford

Life Sketch: Eileen Bell (daughter)
Terry Rich (daughter)

Musical Number: O Divine Redeemer
Kim Mumford
Acc: Jan Mumford

Speaker: Roland K. Smith (son)

Remarks: Bishop Alan Skinner

Closing Song: #152 God Be With You Till We Meet Again

Benediction: Nina Smith (daughter in-law)

Interment: Cleveland, Idaho Cemetery

Dedication of Grave: Nathan Smith (brother)

Pallbearers

Christopher Brown
Bryan Harris
Adam Longaker
Allan Rich
Jared Smith
Clifford Walgren

Roland Burton Smith, 1921 – 2009

General
Roland Burton Smith, 1921 - 2009
Roland Burton Smith, 1921 - 2009

Roland Burton Smith, age 88, died on August 3, 2009 at the Caribou Memorial Living Center in Soda Springs, Idaho.

Roland was born on Saturday, April 9, 1921 in Preston, Idaho, the oldest child of Nathan LeRoy and Mary Ransom Burton Smith. He grew up on a farm in Cleveland, Idaho and graduated from Thatcher High School in 1939. He served as a missionary from 1941 to 1943 for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Southern States Mission. He was inducted into the army in 1944 and served in the 28th Infantry Division in France and Germany during World War II.

Roland married Minnie Arlene Gillette of Tooele, Utah on June 7, 1944 in the Salt Lake Temple where their union was sealed for eternity. They celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary this year. Roland graduated from Utah State University and moved to Soda Springs in 1952 where he taught English at Soda Springs High School for several years. He retired from Monsanto in 1983.

Roland and Arlene served a mission for the LDS Church in Hawaii from 1984-1986, then at the London Temple from 1989-1990, and finally at the Manila, Philippines Temple from 1994-1995. They then served in the Logan Temple for many years.

Roland is survived by his wife Arlene, two brothers Nathan (Sharon) Smith of Yuma, Arizona and Ross (Leone) Smith of Thatcher, ID and a sister LaRella (Ted) Larsen of Las Cruces, NM. He was preceded in death by his parents and his younger brother Delon (Nelma) Smith of Las Cruces, NM. Roland and Arlene have four children, Roland K. (Nina) Smith of Pocatello, ID, Eileen (Phil) Bell of Sandy, UT, Terry (Allan) Rich of Farr West, UT and Perry LeRoy (Christine) Smith of Green River, WY, 27 grandchildren and 60 great-grandchildren.

Funeral services will be held Saturday, August 8, 2009 at the Hooper LDS Church in Soda Springs at 11:00 a.m. The family will receive friends and relatives at a viewing on Friday evening, August 7, 2009 from 7-8 p.m. at the Sims Funeral Home, 139 East 2nd South, Soda Springs, ID 83276 and before the funeral on Saturday morning from 9:30 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. at the Hooper LDS Church. Interment will follow the funeral at the cemetery in Cleveland, Idaho.

Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Sims Funeral Home. Condolences may be sent to the family at http://www.simsfh.com. The family wishes to extend their grateful appreciation to the Caribou Memorial Living Center staff for the care and love they provided to Roland while he was a resident there.

And The End Came Today

General

Rest In Peace, Roland Burton Smith. Great-grandfather, grandfather, father, brother, husband and much more than that.

He died this afternoon at 5:55 p.m. Mountain Daylight Time at the Caribou Memorial Living Center.

When we got there earlier today his breathing was quite labored. They checked his vitals around 1 pm and found that his heart rate was very high and quite erratic. Further, blood was pooling in his extremities, which pretty much explained his situation: his heart was not pumping the blood very efficiently. Consequently, his heart was beating as hard as it could trying to overcome the poor heart function. Meanwhile, his breathing was very labored as he was trying to get more oxygen into his body. The nurse said that the end was quite near and would probably happen within the day.

A couple of hours later he slipped away. Nina was at his bedside when he died.

Mother is doing very well. Right now for her it is a big relief. We’ll take turns staying at the house through the end of the week so that mother isn’t alone.

The funeral is tentatively planned for Saturday, August 8th at 11:00 am at the Hooper LDS Church in Soda Springs. There will be a viewing on Friday night and another one on Saturday before the funeral. Interment will be in the Cleveland Cemetery.

Dad … The End Is Near

General
Dad In the Geriatric Chair
Dad In the Geriatric Chair

Yesterday (Friday, July 31, 2009) when mother arrived at the nursing home, the staff asked to talk with her about dad’s condition. He wasn’t eating or taking fluids as they couldn’t wake him up to eat or drink anything. He has a living will on file stating that they were not to take any extraordinary or heroic efforts on his behalf. It was decision time, they told her. If she wished, they would put him on an IV to keep him hydrated and put in a feeding tube so he could take nourishment. The alternative was for them to honor the living will and he would continue as is, that is not eating and not drinking anything.

They further told her that putting him on the tubes and bottles would only extend his life for an unknown period of time. He would not get any better. He would only continue a slow deterioration.

Today lots of family descended on Soda Springs as it is mother’s 85th birthday. My brother, his wife, along with his daughter Mindy and her family were there. Both my sisters came as well and Terry’s husband Allan came along. Nina and I, along with our daughter Heather and her son Michael, and our son Daryl and his wife Laura were there. That provided a unique opportunity to have a family council and help mother with this decision.

Everyone there affirmed that dad would not want to continue in this state. Further, mother said that if it were her in his situation, she also would not want to continue. There is a better, happier place to be.

So, no extraordinary or heroic measure will be taken. The staff said he could die within the next week to ten days. They will keep him comfortable and make certain he’s feeling no pain.

The end is very near.

Ten Things For Today

TripleT

  1. The Egg Seller
    The Egg Seller
  2. The road between McCammon and Soda Springs has some major construction going on. Between McCammon and the Iron Bridge is a very complex set of road construction that’s somewhat difficult to figure out how the whole thing will look when it’s finished. From the bottom of the Fish Creek hill to the Grace intersection is also under construction. Both of those pieces will add a significant amount of four-lane road. It’ll be nice when finished. My only question is whether or not Bannock County will find that there’s enough four-lane road between McCammon and Lava Hot Springs to raise the speed limit from 55 to 65.
  3. I continue to be very impressed with the care and attention that dad’s getting in the nursing home in Soda Springs. There are currently 29 residents in the nursing home, down nine from December. Dad is no longer responsive and cannot help himself or them, but in spite of that, I think the caring attention he receives is amazing. There are some real angels on that staff.
  4. Usually around here by June everything has turned brown and somewhat ugly. We’ve had enough rain though that the hills are just starting to turn. It has been a beautiful summer this year.
  5. After we got home from the Big Trip East, I needed to move the motor home out of it’s parking spot. I went to retract the slideout, it moved in a couple of inches and stopped. Checking underneath where the mechanism is, the motor was turning but a necessary gear wasn’t being engaged. It wasn’t immediately clear to me how to disassemble, so my choices were to go online to see if I could find information, or take it in to be fixed. Nina agreed with me that having someone fix it would probably be a better option. Last summer an excellent trailer and camping supply store, along with a repair facility, opened in town, State Trailer Supply. I called them last Saturday morning and they said they could take the motor home on Monday, but that it might be better if I drove it over that morning when there wasn’t as much traffic. Good idea. They called Monday afternoon. A pin had sheared. It was replaced and the total bill was about $40. Wahoo!
  6. We spent the afternoon in Soda Springs, a short visit at the nursing home and a longer visit with mother. She needs and wants the support much more than dad does, now. I think dad has had his last conversation with any of us.
  7. In the picture above (click on the picture for more info), there are green eggs. Today I learned that there is a breed of chickens that lays green or bluish green eggs: Aracuana.
  8. Ten things on Tuesday hasn’t been working out. I’m changing the name to Ten Things for Today and hopefully at least once a week I’ll get something written along these lines.
  9. Over the past three months I’ve been keeping track of and categorizing my email. I get almost all my family and friend news today on Facebook and on Twitter. My source of national and international news is almost exclusively Twitter where the BBC, CNN, and a couple of local TV stations post a brief tweet with a link to the longer and more detailed information. That’s caused me to think about what email is good for today. It turns out, not much. It’s getting so that I may check email once or twice a day whereas I check Facebook and Twitter much more often than that. While email is probably still the most important news and information source within a corporation, I expect that will change quickly to social networking as well, much as companies try to keep it out.
  10. Finally, thanks to my sister Eileen for all her work getting Aunt Marj’s estate settled. It looks like everything will be done by August 20th. The estate isn’t large, but it was somewhat complicated. Funeral homes are never easy to deal with (they know they’ve got you captive) and the mortuary in Tooele has been no worse (and no better) than others. Perhaps in September we can get the gravestone ordered and that should just about wrap things up.

Going Backwards

General

Because dad had another “incident” last night we decided to come over to Soda Springs this morning rather than this afternoon. These are not normal TIA’s as he isn’t recovering any functionality, which would be expected from a TIA. His cumiden levels are high, and his bloodwork shows no indication of blood clots. They’ve taken him off of his cumiden for a week to get his levels down as they don’t want any bleeding episodes. His vitals were normal today, BP 105/55, O2 at 99%, temp 98.4, and pulse 86.

His left eye is drooping, the right side of his face is sagging. He’s drooling and has no big interest in his caffiene free diet coke. When he tries to talk, he can’t get anything out. He’s lost a lot of functionality.