97 years old

Terry’s Uncle Donny was 97 years old when he died.  Talk about longevity!  Donny was a bachelor and had lived in California most of his life.  He and his three brothers (including Terry’s dad Forry) grew up in Red Wing, Minnesota.

Donny’s funeral was last Wednesday.  I drove up and met up with Terry, Terry’s mom Topsy (from Salem, Oregon), his brother Mike (also from Salem), his Aunt Rusty (from LA and more recently Minnesota), and his Uncle Spin (from Red Wing).  I just love Terry’s family.  They’re like my own:)  But as a special treat, my very own sister was there too.

I hadn’t seen Uncle Spin in years, and it was so nice to see him again.  He is just a charming, loving person, and it’s hard not to smile when you’re near him.

While I grew up seeing Uncle Spin pretty regularly, I’d only met Uncle Donny a couple times.  Once when I was 7 on a family trip to California and once in 2001 when Terry and I took a trip to L.A.  Here’s a couple pictures of Uncle Don from that trip.  He had a lemon tree growing in his yard.  That kind of blows my mind.  And his jade plants were huge bushes in his yard.  So this is a younger me with Uncle Donny.

And here’s Terry and Uncle Donny.

Uncle Donny’s obituary can be read here.

We all met at the St. James Hotel in Red Wing for lunch.  I had the wild rice soup and it was so seriously yummy that I almost asked for the recipe.  Then I got home and found it online!  Not-so-secret ingredients: heavy cream and whole milk.

Here’s a few photos I took at lunch.

Lovely Topsy:

I got to see my beautiful sister!!

Terry’s brother Mike:

Uncle Spin has been going blind due to macular degeneration for quite a few years.  Here he has just put on Uncle Donny’s WWII ring.  It has to be an odd thing to be the last sibling.  Donny was the oldest Haller boy and Spin (whose real name is Dean) is the youngest.

There was a color guard, and Uncle Donny was buried with military honors.

The moments after a funeral aren’t always the most appropriate for taking photos, but the light was just lovely.  Here’s Terry and Maretta.

And Aunt Rusty.

And Terry and his brother Mike.

Topsy and Aunt Rusty

We found Terry’s grandmother’s grave.

And then found Uncle Blue’s (a.k.a. Lyndon’s) grave.  Uncle Blue was Aunt Rusty’s husband.

So after that brief visit, I turned around and returned home.  How nice it was to see them all.