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?

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.