We had a lovely memorial service for my brother Chris on Sunday the 13th. It was held at the Healdsburg Senior Center, where Chris had attended meetings of his AA group for over twenty-five years. He was very active in that group and was well known for mentoring many people new to the program and helping them with their recoveries. His sister Maggie and I organized the ceremony and several relatives attended, including his daughter Loreen and his nieces Vanessa and April. There was a lively crowd of around a hundred people, many of whom shared memories and stories about Chris. 
Chris was famous for his outrageous Hawaiian shirts, which he wore everywhere when he was not working. People in Healdsburg took pleasure in buying them for him when they went to Hawaii, and he had gradually built up a huge collection. Maggie took them all to the ceremony and we gave them away to all of his friends and neighbors who attended. People really enjoyed that and snapped them up. It was quite amazing seeing all of his shirts worn at once in the same room. So now we are gradually returning to closing out the house that he lived in and re-planning our trip. We expect to be back on the road after the fourth of July weekend. We'll be working on an itinerary over the next few weeks and will post it as soon as we know more.
Hi Steve and Ivy,
ReplyDeleteI finally got back into the SteveandIvyblogspot.com and I am so touched to read about Chris and his amazing memorial. The Hawaiian shirt photo is wonderful. It is great that you helped Chris and his family so much in his final days. You are angels. We are so sorry about his death. I just can't come to grips with the finality that we all must face. We will try to keep better tuned in to your tour from now on( till I lose the website address again.) Sending you our love, Andrea and Rex