Home » Public Forums » GMCnet » Good by Dan
Re: [GMCnet] Good by Dan [message #269377 is a reply to message #269373] |
Sat, 10 January 2015 13:54 |
Jerry Wheeler
Messages: 246 Registered: January 2013
Karma:
|
Senior Member |
|
|
Ken,
Thank you for making this trip and reporting to all of us. Your
description made me feel as if I was there. Wish I could have been there
but it was too far for me.
JR Wheeler NC/OR
On Sat, Jan 10, 2015 at 2:27 PM, Ken Burton wrote:
> 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 or 443 miles one way. At 10 AM I left and guess what way I was
> headed. I was headed south.
>
> 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 out those two plows until the roads had been hard packed
> with
> snow which turned to ice. I hit the ice pack within the first 300 feet
> after I crossed the state line and it stayed that way down to Effingham, IL
> which 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
> but actually arrived at 6:35 due to the poor condition of Illinois roads.
>
> I have never been in Dexter, Mo. before and as I drove 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 parked in the distance on the street. When I got
> there I realized they were all parked at the Funeral home. 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 with the name "Danny Gregg
> Visitation 5PM
> to 8PM" being displayed. When I got to the entrance there was a guy
> stopping everyone from entering and directing them around to a side
> entrance. I
> entered that way and then I realized that this was the end of a line
> waiting starting just inside the door. The line ran through an office,
> then back
> to the normal entrance reception area and then chapel area. On the
> opposite end of the chapel was where you could get up to see Teri, Dan, and
> his
> children standing there greeting 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 she saw me, she immediate hugged me and started
> crying. She did not let go for almost 5 minutes. I gave her my best wishes
> and best wishes of the GMC community that all wanted to be there. It was
> a very emotional time for her but she repeatedly expressed thanks that
> someone from the GMC community showed up. Talking to Dan's daughter
> Melany the next day at lunch after the funeral, Melany 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. I do not know who all of those people were.
> He must have known everyone for a 50 mile radius, because all of them came
> out to the funeral home for visitation.
>
> The funeral home had a slide presentation of pictures of Dan with his
> family, friends, his VW, his GMC, letters written by his grandkids, and
> even his
> corrections department badge. It was quite a professional arrangement of
> memories. I was very, very impressed.
>
> 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. His 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 9 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 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 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 markers were in rows and identical in
> traditional military fashion. It was like visiting Punch Bowl, Hawaii or
> Arlington, VA. 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 at the
> cemetery. The final ceremony was attended by two honor guards (one air
> Force and one from Stoddard County). They had their flag presentation their
> three volley rifle salute. Finally someone brought 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 and someone tapped my on the
> shoulder.
> From behind me he asked if it was alright if he and his wife also sat a
> the table. I said 'sure" and turned around to find that it was fellow GMCer
> Luther McConnell and his wife. He had driven in that morning from St.
> Louis 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 etc. from all of the GMCers and GMC
> clubs.
>
> 4. My return trip was not any better. The Illinois roads were still messed
> up but the wind had changed direction. So I still had the ice and a major
> wind problem returning. The total trip was a little of over 950 miles. I
> used Laurie's car and it is covered with salt from the Indiana roads. At
> the current below 0 temperature, it is a little too cold to wash it right
> now.
> --
> Ken Burton - N9KB
> 76 Palm Beach
> Hebron, Indiana
> _______________________________________________
> GMCnet mailing list
> Unsubscribe or Change List Options:
> http://temp.gmcnet.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gmclist
>
_______________________________________________
GMCnet mailing list
Unsubscribe or Change List Options:
http://temp.gmcnet.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gmclist
|
|
|
Goto Forum:
Current Time: Fri Sep 27 12:48:52 CDT 2024
Total time taken to generate the page: 0.00966 seconds
|