Mavis Vinje

Tuesday afternoon, we left for Wisconsin for Grandma Vinje's funeral and Wednesday night, about 800 miles later, we got back home. We drove to Janesville and spent the night with Jeannette's dad and stepmom, then Wednesday morning we went over to New Glarus, where Grandma lived most of her life. The funeral was held at Baptist Bible Church, where she had been a member for years and, according to the program, taught Sunday School for two and a half decades.

There was a nice crowd there, including all five of Grandma's kids. Aunt Gail had flown in from Indonesia, where she is a missionary nurse, a few weeks ago when it became apparent that Grandma wasn't doing well. There were grand-kids and great-grandchildren, as well as a number of church and community members. I've spent very little time with most of Jeannette's relatives who are in this part of the country, so it was nice to reconnect with some of them.

During the service, I was most surprised to hear that Grandma had not become a Christian until she was 41 years old. Jeannette was able to share during the service about how much she appreciated the way that Grandma took her and her thoughts seriously even when she was a very young girl. There were also several references to her giggle, her non-stop talking and penchant for getting in trouble. Friends also talked about her love for Christ and willingness to help.

I enjoyed looking at some old photos of Grandma, clear back to childhood and even her wedding, that had been assembled on two pieces of poster board in the foyer.

After the service, there was a potluck dinner in the church gym--lots of good food, especially the meatballs--and then we all trailed our way out to the cemetery, located about a half an hour away but very close to where her family's farms were based. I took my first turn ever at being a pall bearer (note: it's heavier than it looks). I always enjoy walking around old cemeteries and reading the headstones. In this case, many of them from years ago were engraved in what I assume was Norwegian.

It was an exhausting trip but one that we needed to make. I guess there has to be some advantage to living out here in the Midwest and part of it must be the way it allows us to connect with a different portion of our relatives than we have in the past.