Final Interment

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Carrying the Coffin

My Uncle Delon’s interment took place this afternoon at the Cleveland, Idaho cemetery (interestingly, if you do a search on Google for Cleveland Idaho my writeup about the cemetery is the top link returned). It was a cold, breezy day but the weather had definitely cooperated. The family gathered at Uncle Ross’s home in Cleveland starting around noon for a lovely lunch prepared by Aunt Leone and her daughters Marianne and Kathy (I sure hope these names are spelled right!). More than thirty people were there and it was good to renew and make acquaintances. A little before three we all arrived at the cemetery to find everything in order and ready. The snow had been pushed away to provide plenty of space for parking and to clear the area around the grave. Delon was buried close to his parents and next to the plot where my mother and dad will be buried (their headstone is already in place). A goodly group were in attendance for the dedication of the grave (I was asked to perform that Priesthood Ordinance by the family) after which we dispersed for home. All ceremony associated with the death and burial of a loved one is now complete for Uncle Delon. It’s difficult for me to wrap my brain around the fact that in this lifetime we will not do anything more together.

The burial was handled by Webb Funeral Home in Preston, definitely one of the more professional funeral homes in this part of the world. After the grave dedication, the funeral director told Uncle Ross and me that they really had a set of work to make the burial possible on time. When Delon’s body was delivered to the funeral home late yesterday (Friday) afternoon, they discovered that the casket was an oversized casket, which the funeral home in Las Cruces hadn’t told them. That meant that the hole in the cemetery was too small and the vault that had been delivered and set up at the gravesite was also too small. They finally located a properly sized vault in Idaho Falls which was delivered to the cemetery about noon today. The backhoe had to come back to the cemetery to enlarge the hole … and move more snow out of the way because of the new arrangement. The vaults have the deceased person’s name and birth and death dates on the top of the vault. The new lettering arrived about 1:30 p.m. to be bolted onto the top of the vault. Finally everything was in order for a 3 p.m. burial. When we arrived at the cemetery, there was no indication of what the Webb Mortuary went through to make this interment problem free. That’s what professionals do and I certainly give kudos to them. My thoughts and prayers are with Nelma as she now begins a new (and completely unexpected) chapter in her life.

Garmin Street Pilot GPS Is Like A Country-Western Song….

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He’ll Take You Almost All The Way There….

We used my (fairly new) Garmin Street Pilot c550 GPS for the trip down to Las Cruces, New Mexico and back. The device was quite helpful as it always put us in the general area of where we were going. The shortcomings were:

Three times it put me in the wrong lane to get onto the freeway (“In point two miles turn right onto eye-forty.” When it was a left turn…).

Twice I was instructed to make a left turn at an intersection when there was no way to go left!

Twice I was told to turn one way at an intersection to go to my final destination when in reality the address was the other way.

Three times I was told I was at the destination when in reality the address was two or three hundred yards further down the road.

On the other hand, I would not have found my way around Las Cruces as easily as we did without the GPS. Before leaving Pocatello I programmed in the addresses for the motels where we were planning to stay along with the addresses for Aunt LaRella, Delon, and the Church where the funeral was being held. That made getting around town much easier than trying to drive and read a map. The GPS always got us close enough (athough I did have to make a few U turns when the device had it’s right and left mixed up). In fact, Uncle Nate and Aunt Sharon (actually, Sharon did all the driving. Uncle Nate is legally blind) followed us to a couple of places after Sharon got themselves thoroughly lost in Las Cruces last Tuesday night.

The device was also fairly accurate as to what time we would arrive at our next destination. As soon as it calculates the route, it displays the expected arrival time. It was always within a couple of minutes of being right, which is pretty amazing given traffic, traffic lights, and road conditions.

Now that I’ve used this device on a long road trip, I want to go look at all of the available GPS devices to see what features they might have. Maybe there is one out there that would qualify for a better song.

Home Sweet Home!

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The Big Funeral Trip … all 2,312 miles … is complete. We arrived at the Flying J in McCammon at 3:30 this afternoon. Mother and dad then headed the 35 miles east to Soda Springs and Nina (who met us there) and I drove the 20 miles northwest to Pocatello. I started working through some of the pictures last night and hopefully will complete them tomorrow to put up in the picture album. At the time I felt like I had taken a lot of pictures … but now looking at them I probably should have taken many, many more. On problem with my little Sony point-and-shoot digital camera is that the image shown on the small LCD screen might look OK, but the real picture is just a little fuzzy. I think I’ve gotten a good image but then when I look at it on the computer, it isn’t usable.

I’m still pleasantly surprised at how uneventful the entire trip was. The drive down and back were completely problem free. We had about sixty miles of wet roads the entire trip. Dad’s car gets about 34 miles to the gallon so the fuel bills were less than I had expected they would be. For instance, we drove from Cortez, Colorado to Pleasant View, Utah on just over twelve gallons of gas for 410 miles.

The Moab area is just beautiful, particularly with a light dusting of snow. The drive through there this morning was very nice “eye candy” with the red-rocked cliffs dusted with snow. I think we need to go there to spend some vacation time Real Soon Now. Even the drive up Route 6 from I-70 through Price was made much more pleasant by the snow which took away most of the dull grey that otherwise characterizes that landscape.

I’m quite happy to be home, though. My comfy bed is calling … maybe even the hot tub!??! We’ll see what the evening brings. No more driving until tomorrow….

Delon’s burial will be at the Cleveland, Idaho cemetery tomorrow afternoon at 3 p.m. Nina and I will drive over to Soda Springs to collect mother and dad and take them with us to the cemetery. I think I’ll let Nina do the driving!

Delon’s Funeral

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A very nice memorial service was held in Delon’s honor this morning. There was a viewing at 10 a.m. in the Relief Society room of the Las Cruces Fourth Ward. My dad was asked to say the Family Prayer and the coffin was closed at about 10:55. The funeral services started right at 11 a.m. with Bishop Jay Robb conducting. When I get home I’ll post a scan of the program. In the meantime, here’s a synopsis:

Accompanist: Romay Sitze
Chorister: Linda Grayless
Hymn #136, I Know That My Redeemer Lives
Invocation: Ted Larson, Delon’s Nephew (I knew him as Barry Larsen as he was growing up)
Speaker: David Nutall, Delon’s stepson
Speaker: Ross Smith, Delon’s brother
Musical Number, Oh My Father by The Walker Family
Remarks: Bishop Jay Robb
Speaker: Kelly Allred, President of the Las Cruces Stake and a good family friend
Hymn #152, God Be With You Til We Meet Again
Bendiction: Roland Smith, Delon’s Nephew (that would be me)

The service went just about an hour, after which the hearse took the casket away to be shipped by air tomorrow to the Webb Mortuary in Preston. The Interment will be on Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. in the Cleveland, Idaho cemetery. The Fourth Ward Relief Society provided a very nice lunch buffet for the family and friends. The service was well attended with many family members there as well as many other people from the Air Force Base where Delon worked and from the Ward and Stake. The Stake-sized chapel was more than two thirds full for the service. The funeral was a very lovely tribute to Delon and his family.

I took quite a few pictures, some of which are worth putting in the picture album when I get back home. After the service and lunch, Delon’s siblings and their family congregated at Uncle Ted and Aunt LaRella’s home for a few hours of fun conversation. That ended with a serious round of picture taking. Who knows when and if this group will get together again?

Delon’s Siblings

This is one of the pictures taken of the four remaining siblings. In the back row are my uncles Ross and Nathan Smith. Seated are my father Roland Smith and my Aunt LaRella Larsen. Everyone there enjoyed the short time they had together and I had a lot of fun catching up with cousins, most of whom I haven’t seen in many, many years.

We’ll leave around 7 a.m. in the morning from our hotel. We’ll stop briefly at Delon’s and at Aunt LaRella’s and should be on the road by 8 headed north. It looks like we’ll be driving into a storm that wasn’t supposed to be anything. That is not the case and the storm has put down a significant amount of snow in Utah and is headed southeast along the route that we’ll be driving. Going further east isn’t an option as that is where this storm is going. Going further west doesn’t help either, as we’ll still be driving up the center of Utah through the path of the storm. So, the driving may be slow. But, our mission here is completed and was very successful and it’s time to go back home.

Las Cruces, New Mexico

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This is the second time that I’ve been to Las Cruces, New Mexico. In the intervening five years, I think this town has more than doubled in size and population. It has definitely been discovered. I asked Uncle Ted what was bringing people here … there isn’t any industry or manufacturing here … so how were all these people making a living? Turns out he has been wondering the same thing himself. He is having cataract eye surgery today and hopefully will be able to see to drive once again.

Funerals are definitely family gathering times. I think that my dad’s family … his remaining two brothers and a sister … are getting together for the first time in more than five years. Yesterday as we were visiting with Nelma (Delon’s wife) and some of her family, dad’s brother Nate and his wife Sharon arrived from Yuma, Arizona. His other brother Ross and his wife were to arrive by air into El Paso late last night. Others from Nelma’s family were also arriving last night. It has been nice to meet some people whom I have only known through email or telephone calls and others whom I have only heard about. This group of people will never be together again as life and death will get in between, I’m certain.

Several of Delon’s coworkers have sent comments on my blog posts about Delon. I have been touched by their comments and appreciate their taking the time to express their sympathy.

The viewing will be at 10 a.m. this morning at the LDS Church that Delon and Nelma attended and the funeral will follow at 11. Delon’s body is being transported by air to Idaho for burial in the Cleveland, Idaho Cemetery Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. That allows enough time for the family to drive up there for the burial. Fortunately, the weather forecast maps indicate nice weather for the burial services.

I think that Delon and Nelma have liked living in this little corner of New Mexico. As we drove south from Albuquerque yesterday, I noticed that the Rio Grande river actually had water running in the river bed … a somewhat unusual circumstance as drought conditions for the past several years have dried up the river causing significant controversy over water rights in this part of the country between New Mexico, Texas, and Mexico. Perhaps this will be a year of adequate water in this area as well. The living here is very pleasant. Maybe that’s what is drawing so many people to Las Cruces, New Mexico?

Delon Smith’s Obituary and Remembrance

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Delon’s obituary was published today in the Las Cruces Sun-News. The link to the obituary (and the online guest book) is http://www.legacy.com/LCsun-news/Obituaries.asp?Page=LifeStory&PersonId=103222315. Since the link will only work for a short time, the obituary reads as follows:
DeLon Smith
1945-2008
DeLon Smith beloved brother, father and grandfather passed away Friday, February 8, 2008 at the age of 62. He was born to Nathan LeRoy Smith and Mary Burton Smith on June 26, 1945 in Preston, ID. He served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in the Southwest Indian Mission from 1964 to 1966. He married Nelma Jean Powell on June 30, 1973 in Price, UT. He is survived by his wife, brothers: Roland, Nate, Ross, sister: LaRella (Larsen), children: Cheryl (Anaya), Kenny, and Curtis, step-children: David Nuttall, Mike Nuttall, Gail Peak, and Karen Nuttall. He also survived by three grandsons, nine step-grandchildren and one great-grandson. The viewing will be on Wednesday, February 13 at 10:00 am. in the LDS chapel at 3210 Venus St. with services to follow at 11:00am. Burial Cleveland, ID.

Services have been entrusted to the care of La Paz-Graham’s Funeral Home 555 West Amador Las Cruces New Mexico (575) 526-689.

Delon was the relative I was closest to as I was growing up. We spent a lot of time together at Grandfather Smith’s (Delon’s father) calcite operation in Treasureton, Idaho. We got our amateur radio licenses together when we were about 13 (my call sign was KN7OJL … I don’t remember Delon’s callsign) and had a great time working together on electronics. Delon’s interests went from there to music which has played an important role in the rest of his life. He was an accomplished pianist and loved to play the small grand piano in his living room … perhaps his most prized material possession.

Photography was another of Delon’s passions and he made many photographic excursions into the back country of northern New Mexico and southwestern Colorado. The last time we were together, we spent one very delightful afternoon together in old town Las Cruces photographing. He had a very good eye for the composition of a scene.

It doesn’t seem possible that we won’t be doing anything else together in this life. Rest in peace, Delon. I miss you.

Making A Sad Funeral Trip

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After some discussion, mother and dad and I will drive down to Las Cruces, NM for Delon’s funeral. It is very strange to me that of all dad’s siblings, the youngest was the first to die. All the rest of the siblings are in poor health as well and this may well be the last time for dad to see his sister. So, we’ll make the drive down.

Mapquest says it’s a thousand miles and fifteen hours by way of Salt Lake, Price, Moab, Monticello, Cortez, Gallup, and Albuquerque. We’ll do the trip down in two days and take two days to make the trip back. We’ll leave on Monday morning, February 11th and get back home on Friday, February 15th.

The plan is to drive on Monday to Gallup, New Mexico where we’ll stay in the Hampton Inn there (505-726-0900). We’ll arrive in Las Cruces sometime on Tuesday afternoon. We’ll be staying at the Hampton Inn in Las Cruces (755 Avenida De Mesilla 505-526-8311) on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. We’ll leave on Thursday morning and plan to drive to Monticello, Utah where we’ll stay Thursday night at the Best Western in Monticello (435-587-2261).

Delon’s funeral is at 11 a.m. on Wednesday morning. The current plan is that he’ll be buried at the Cleveland Cemetery in Cleveland, Idaho but according to Delon’s daughter Cheryl, those arrangements haven’t been finalized yet. It is a sad day.

My Uncle Delon Died This Morning

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I just heard from Mother that my Uncle Delon Smith in Las Cruces, New Mexico, died this morning from an apparent heart attack. No other information is available, including anything about arrangements.

Delon was three months younger than me. More information as it becomes available.

Update 1:

Delon was born on June 26, 1945 in Preston, Idaho. He married Nelma Jean Powell on June 30, 1973. Delon had been living in Las Cruces, New Mexico for the past twenty years or more.

Update 2 (February 12, 2008):

Delon got up early in the morning unable to breathe. He went into the bathroom and collapsed. When the paramedics arrived, he had stopped breathing and had died.