from Toledo

Yes, we are not home again. We are in Toledo Ohio ataying with Lisa and Harve.
Lisa's aunt Margaret Jane passed away Sunday and the family asked me to do the funeral.
So here I am.

12 years ago I did Lisa's mom's funeral and a month after that I did the funeral for her sister. And now this is the third sister. The oldest, Leila, is the only one still living.

I always feel honored to do anyone's funeral. it is so interesting to do what I did today - to spend time with a family who is remembering the life of someone that they loved. Margaret Jane was, like all of her sisters and her mother - a teacher. In fact - amazingly, at one point all four sisters and their mother taught in the same school. They covered 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 6th grade. That amazes me.

It was a family that valued education and was very intellectual. Margaret Jane was 82 years old and passed away Sunday night as we all would like - in her sleep in her home. I hope and pray that tomorrow the service will be what she would like. Simple but honest about who she was.
And she was, like many women of her time, (and maybe like me) remembered the most for the family that she loved. But I am sure that she touched the lives of more people than she knew.
Certainly Lisa and Brian were among them.
Keep them in your prayers.
(and me, as I am procrastinating in writing the memorial address right now)