Great Grampa Shaha's Memorial

Mom and I just got home from our drive back to Kansas. What a wonderful week you all provided for us--those who were able to attend my Dad's memorial service and those of you who supported us all getting there. We so much wish you ALL could have been there. I hope these photos will provide a little of what we were able to see and do while together. David and Ben, with technical assistance from Jimmy, were able to record the services at the cemetery and the church house, and I've got a digital copy . . . just need to figure out how to load it on this site so you can access it if you want to--it's pretty long.

So we gathered Saturday morning, 20 July 2013, at the Salt Lake City Cemetery for a short memorial ceremony for Dad. Our crew arrived about the same time as the VFW team and began the setup and rehearsals--what would a military op be without rehearsals, right? As time got closer we had a lot of family and some friends gather. Here is Mom with her boys.

Here is Buffie and me with my old pal Al Conklin--he joined the church when he was a high school senior and I was a junior at Madison High in Vienna, VA; we were Young Men together when Dad was in the YM presidency.

 

 Here is Hannah, Lizzie, Alex and Kate in their finery.

 And Katie with Natalie and Jack.

The VFW gun salute detail,

and bugler for taps.

 We were so fortunate to have Dad's older brother Marvin and his wife Nina attend with us. They have been so good to Dad over the years and especially helping Great Gramma Shaha through some tough times in the recent years. It was great having their support and active participation in the ceremonies. If you look closely in the background you'll see my cousin Vicky and her husband Rick who also came to the ceremonies and festivities.

 And here's the VFW team leader giving Great Gramma Shaha a flag and a memorial ceremony picture after they played taps for Dad.

 And to cap it off, Buffie had arranged for a Scottish piper to come play a medley of Irish and Galic (sp?) tunes for Dad--he closed with the tune to "Goin' Home" as he walked away from the group. It was a great tribute to Dad as he always did like the bagpipes (gaita).

 The Pat Shaha clan members able to attend . . . thanks to all who made it possible for us all to be here! We went to Great Gramma's church for another ceremony and a great lunch by Stacy and her Relief Society friends, and a slide show and some of Dad's old music (and some jodies for old times sake)--we just wish all could have been there with us.

 Once back at Uncle Steve's we got back into the reunion mode. Here is a photo of something new Abbie threw at us--human battleship. We put sheets up on the badmitton net to shield the two teams from each other, each team lies down randomly on their side, and we take turns tossing a water balloon over the sheets--if someone gets hit they're out.

 Well, as usual, at the Shaha reunion things quickly sank into chaos and it just became a water balloon fight with somebody's sheets in the way. Over 150 water balloons don't last that long at our reunions, do they.

Some of us were able to visit with Great Gramma Williams and had a great time sharing memories and stories with Fae.

And while we were there a WHOLE lot of the Williams clan dropped by so we had a makeshift reunion right there in Gramma Fae's room--I think we could have been arrested for overpopulating the room as we had 20 people in there at one time. And Gramma Fae was OK with it--she's the best.

And Natalie and cousin Ava had a good time playing in Gramma Fae's bedroom while the boys and adults were out front--Ava can be dangerous as you can see.

Hope all are doing well and that this post works as my posting skills continue to be challenged . . . just logging on!

Love, Pat/Dad/Mister Gwampa/Cwazy Grampa/etc.

Klaus Wolfgang Shaha: 9lbs 6 oz. 22.4" long born 11:43pm 2 July 2013

Standard misspelling of last name. 4.220 kg = weight (he was actually 4.25 kg). Marinda didn't have an epidural. She was amazingly strong.

Name is actually being finalized...