Art Mineer had his funeral on Monday, December 1.
There was a viewing at the mortuary on Sunday afternoon where there were lots of family with little kids who were running around all over. I wouldn't have taken them to a viewing, but these were among Barbara's 36 grandchildren, and nobody seemed phased by the racket.
The most interesting thing about the viewing was that the mortuary director was a North German Mission president in the 90's. He brought me up on the Church there. There's actually a meetinghouse with a branch of 80 in my first town of Leer. I couldn't have possibly dreamed that there would ever be a Church presence there.
The morning funeral service was at the ward meetinghouse because too many people were anticipated for the smaller room which the mortuary had for the purpose. It turned out to be a wonderful service as two of the daughters, Barbara and Susan spoke of Art's life and what he did for the family. The final speaker was a neighbor who revealed what Art meant as he spoke his only words at Carma's funeral; "What time is it?" The neighbor speaker was Art's home teacher and the Elders Quorum President and he would visit with Art and Carma as part of his home teaching assignment. After some time, Art would say to Carma, "What time is it?" and that was a cue for the home teachers to bow out. The neighbor had another tale to tell about Art going with him to the Church farm to fix the tractor, after calls to other Quorum members failed. "I'll do anything for you", Art said.
The burial service was in the afternoon. I dedicated the grave; the pallbearers placed the flag-draped casket, and a contingent from the military folded the flag and gave it to Marolynn as taps were played. All in all, a beautiful graveside ceremony on a very warm for December afternoon.
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