In The Spirit...

Click photo to enlarge.
So sad. I was just informed that my Uncle Jerry (in color) passed away this morning, at the young old age of 68. It was very shocking since he was such a physical person - always active. Even went skiing in Colorado every year!
He and my cousin Larry had taken a trip yesterday down to NH to see his daughter. They had a little party last night with my cousins from NH. He had a total of three beers. He was usually the first one up. Larry got up first, then my cousins. My cousins wife Marlene, went in and folded her blankets and out again thinking he was just sleeping. Larry decided to start cooking breakfast and went to wake him up to find that he had passed away during the night.
He lived in Vermont, I think his entire life. He came from a family of twelve - one passed away as an infant with a spinal problem. He was the brother of my mom, Evelyn (bottom left in row), who passed away in 2003. My Aunt Mona, unfortunately, was the only one missing in the photo. He was the father of three grown children - Craig, Randy & Jerilynn (forgive incorrect spelling). The ex-wife, Bonnie, who remained fairly close to him after many years. His grand-children will miss him so. He was great with children.
He had a gorgeous piece of land on hill in Montgomery Heights, VT. The old one room school house that they went to as children still sits at the bottom. It is now now a popular restaurant called "The Belfry". What's so great about it, is that they have kept it as original as possible. My mom's family grew up down the street from there.
Every year since my grand-mother (Mem'ere) was alive - many years ago, he has been holding family-camping re-unions there. He's got a large hunk of land among the pine trees, where he has built a genuine log home with a wrap around porch. A lot of people bring their campers and tents and camp out anywhere from about three days to a week around Labor Day weekend. There are horseshoe & volleyball tournaments going on every day. He even placed a pool up there several years ago. There is a wonderful garden there, a camp-fire with singing every night and the smell of breakfast cooking outside. There even was a genuine outhouse until there were too many people to accommodate so he started renting Port-a-Potti's. We talking about 200 people folks! And that's not all relatives coming every year! Some people even braved washing their hair in the freezing cold brook down the road aways.
Saturday night we always had a talent show. We had a curtain, microphones and a host. Every show was video-taped for anyone to buy. We had t-shirts also. Anyone from toddlers on up could join in. I was the Oct. calendar girl one year. You know Neal Sadaka's song - "I love, I love, I love my calendar girls!"? My mom was a California Raisin one year prancing with her sisters - in black trashbags with sunglasses - to the song "I heard it throught the grapevine"! Sometimes it was "The Church Lady" from Sat Night Live or a comedy-drama. Some were extremely good singers! Some kids played there instruments from school. They even did "This is Your Life!" occasionally. My mom was one of them. She was given a book with memorable moments of her life.
Sunday consisted of most of us going to the little old church in Montgomery Center. One service was just for our family alone. It was right out of "Little House on the Prairie!" The pastor knew all the locals. Then next door was the church hall. We would rent it for that day and bring some potluck dishes with us before church. They might be in a crockpot keeping hot or chilling in the fridge during church. Then we would all pile in there and usually my uncle would share the minutes, share family news, decide who traveled the furthest, and vote for next years commity. That was after the food of course. Sometimes my cousins would set up their band and sing. They use to play all over the area, including Canada. Then every one pitch in and put things away or wash dishes and clean up. The leftover food usually was shared at camp for supper after another day of fun. It definitely was something to remember.
I pray that now that he's gone, his children will keep the land and tradition going. It would be VERY sad to see it fade away. He was one of my favorite uncles!
At least he left this world peacefully in his sleep. He is with his mother and two sisters - the one on the bottom right, Theresa, is also there, in a better place where there is no suffering. He was quite a character, like my mom, he will be surely missed.
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