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Good by Dan [message #269373]

Sat, 10 January 2015 13:27

Ken Burton

Messages: 10030
Registered: January 2004
Location: Hebron, Indiana

Karma: 10

Senior Member

On Thursday morning it was -10 degrees here in NW Indiana. The wind was blowing at what I estimate was 25 to 30 knots straight out of the south. It stayed that way for this entire trip of 443 miles one way. At 10 AM I left and guess what way I was headed. I was headed south into a major headwind.

This trip was to attend Dan Gregg's visitation and funeral. I forgot that Illinois (outside of the Chicago area counties) only owns two snow plows. Unfortunately they did not get them out on the road until the roads had been hard packed with snow which then turned to ice. I hit the ice pack within the first 300 feet after I crossed the state line into Illinois and it stayed that way all they way down to Effingham, IL. That was about 180 miles of the trip. It took hours to get through that stuff running as slow as 15 mph at times on I-57 in Illinois. Visitation was scheduled to be 5 PM to 8 PM. I had planned to get there before 5 PM. I actually arrived at 6:35 due to the poor road conditions in Illinois.

I have never been in Dexter, Mo. before and as I drove into and through town on the the main street there was no one to be seen anywhere. I thought that they must have rolled up the downtown sidewalks at dusk. There was not a single car moving or parked anywhere. Then as I approached the west edge of town I could see some cars in the distance parked on the street. When I got to the cars I realized they were all parked at the Funeral home that I was looking for. I started looking for a place to park and there was none. The area around the funeral home was jammed with cars. I ended up parking a block away and walking back to the funeral home in the wind. In front of the Funeral home was very professional electronic billboard sign saying "Danny Gregg Visitation 5PM to 8PM". When I made it to the entrance there was a guy stopping everyone from entering the building and directing the people around to a side entrance. I entered that way and then I realized that this was the end of a waiting line that started just inside the door. The line ran through an office, then back to the normal entrance / reception area and then to and through the chapel area. On the opposite end of the chapel was where you could get to see Teri, Dan, and his children who were standing there greeting and talking to the people.

There were several hundred people and I waited in line with them. It took just under 45 minutes to get through the line to see Teri and Dan's extended family. When Teri saw me, she immediately hugged me and started crying. She did not let go for almost 5 minutes. I gave her my best wishes and the best wishes from the GMC community on behalf of all of us GMCers that wanted to be there. It was a very emotional time for her but she repeatedly expressed thanks and surprise that someone from the GMC community made it to Dexter. Talking to Dan's daughter Melanie the next day at lunch, after the funeral, Melanie said the visitation was suppose to end at 8 PM but there were people coming through the line until 9:30 PM. That was 4.5 hours that they all stood there greeting people. I do not know who all of those people were. He must have known everyone for a 50 mile radius and all of them came out to the funeral home for visitation on Thursday evening.

The funeral home had a slide presentation of pictures of Dan with his family, his friends, his VW, and his GMC. There were letters written by his grand kids, and even his corrections department badge on display. It was a very professional arrangement of memories. I was very, very impressed with what I observed on this sad occasion.

The funeral was the next day at 10 AM at the Church of Christ church. I arrived at 9:30 and the same slide show was being shown on two projection screens inside the church. Dan's flag draped coffin was positioned in front of the altar. I would like to tell you what happened during the ceremony and what was said, but with my hearing I missed about 95% of it. There were 6 seating rows (pews) reserved for family and I counted 48 people sitting in those family reserved pews. The rest of the church had a couple of hundred attendees like me.

After the church we went to the Missouri State Veterans Cemetery in Bloomfield, Mo. which is about 8 or 10 miles away. It was a trip on two 4 lane divided highways. As we pulled on the first divided 4 lane highway we ended up in the right lane parallel to a van and a semi in the left lane. Both the van and the semi slowed down, moved in behind us, and waited for the procession. I was surprised. I am use to Chicago drivers who have to get there now and the heck with everyone else. When we turned north on to the second widely divided highway ALL of the southbound traffic pulled to the curb and waited for our northbound procession to pass. I was shocked as this. It was this way along the entire route. These were not adjacent lanes but a very widely separated highway. Around here the southbound traffic would not have done that. The Dexter Police Dept. escorted the procession the entire way even though we were several miles outside of the city. Again it was a courtesy I would not see in this area.

The Veterans Cemetery was a beautiful place that has only been there about 12 years. Everything was immaculate and all of the graves had green wreaths with red bows on them. All of the identical shaped markers were in rows in traditional military fashion. It was like visiting Punch Bowl, Hawaii or Arlington, VA. military cemeteries. Missouri really did it well. It was sunny and not a cloud to be seen. The temperature had warmed up to 29 with less wind than yesterday. The final ceremony was attended by two honor guards (one Air Force and one from Stoddard County). They had their flag presentation and their three volley rifle salute. Finally someone brought out a bunch of helium filled red, white, and blue balloons. The grand children plus some of the family members each took one. Together they released them into the air. I watched them until I could no longer see them as they blew away in the wind. It was a fitting ending tribute to Dan.

Good by my friend.

Good by Dan from all of us GMCers.

Side notes:

1. After the cemetery ceremony some of us returned to the Church for lunch. I sat down at a table by myself because I knew only two people there. Teri and Dan's daughter that I only met in line yesterday. Someone tapped me on the shoulder from behind and asked if it was alright if he and his wife also sat a the same table. I said "sure" and then I turned around to find that it was fellow GMCer Luther McConnell and his wife. They had driven in that morning from St. Louis (about 170 miles) for the funeral. So I was not the only GMCer attending.

2. I have been to a lot of funerals and I hate attending them. This was the best funeral I have ever attended. I have the feeling that Teri put it together but I do not know this for sure.

3. Teri said "thanks" for the notes and things from all of the GMCers and GMC clubs.

4. My return trip was not any better than the trip going there. The Illinois roads were still messed up but the wind had changed direction. This change gave me a strong cross wind all the way home. So I still had the ice and major wind problems on my return trip. The total trip was a little over 950 miles. I used Laurie's car for the trip and it is currently covered with salt from the Indiana roads. Illinois did not use any salt. With the current temperature below 0 here, it is a little too cold to wash her car right now. She will have to wait for a few days.

Ken Burton - N9KB
76 Palm Beach
Hebron, Indiana

[Updated on: Sun, 11 January 2015 09:56]