My dad desired to be cremated. He once told me this long ago and reminded me once again when he was ill. We had a Memorial Ceremony for Dad on March 6. We had visitation from 5pm to 7pm and then the Memorial Ceremony at 7pm. My Dad was a simple man so we kept it simple. Mom let me make most of the decisions, it was up to me on how I wanted it to be done. Mom had a few requests. She wanted to play 'How Great Thou Art' and 'Amazing Grace'. I chose Elvis Presley as the artist for both versions. Dad liked Elvis Presley. Mom just wanted a simple flower arrangement with red, white, and blue. But many people gave flowers. Dad's urn was simple. It is black with gold trim with his date of birth and date of death inscribed on it. Mom had a Japanese urn at the house but she thought it was too fancy. The urn reminded me of my favorite car that I had. It was a black and chrome Mitsubishi Eclipse. Dad could always spot my car out of a crowd. Ric's sister, Lulu, made prayer ties and laid them around the urn along with some sage.
We had a painting of Dad in his Air Force uniform with the Air Force seal beneath it. I also made three poster boards to display 67 pictures of my Dad throughout his life. It brought back old memories going through all those pictures. Why 67. Because that was his age. We also displayed Dad's Bronze Star Medal, Mom's and Dad's wedding picture, a picture of Chief Menawa (his great great great Grandfather), a photo of him holding his 'Hole In One' trophy, his Meritorious Service Certificate, a photo of when he first joined the Military, a pipe that he beaded, and of course his favorite picture of him holding his son.
I asked my preacher to come say a few words and he did. Then I gave a speech. Then Lulu sang a Native American song. If you desire to read my speech, I have attached my speech in an RTF format.
Mom and I are doing okay. I am her rock and my Faith and my Dad's wisdom is my rock. It is still going to take some time to get use to it, but I'm doing just fine. I use to call my dad every time I went to Wal-mart. I went to Wal-mart yesterday and it just wasn't the same. But I will be calling Mom everyday until she moves to where ever she plans on moving and when I move out and get a job.
Had my Dad been healthy, his plans were to move to Oklahoma after I had graduated and settled down. I was going to ask him to write a book on his life and the adventures that he has been on. In his memory, I am going to write a book about him and my experience with him. It may take me a year or two, but it's something that I want to do. And he would've probably continued his math studies and would've surpassed even me in math. And I'm currently taking Differential Equations II.
On another subject that I'd like to share with you, this is my last semester of college...for now anyway. I will be receiving my B.S. in Mechanical Engineering. My Senior Design Project is..well, I'd like to say...above the call of duty. There are six groups and some of their projects include: tennis ball launcher, automatic steak cooker, centrifugal oil filter, can crusher, and an engine stand tester. I don't mean to put down their projects; all those projects sound great and fantastic. But our group, we just had to be over achievers and go over the top. Our project is a vertical take off and landing unmanned aerial vehicle featuring co-axial counter rotating blades in a ducted fan. Or in other words, "I hope this thing will fly". Haha. We just call it a VTOL UAV for short. We have been receiving good grades thus far; we made an A on the project proposal, design analysis, and the drawings. All we have to do is build and execute. That's going to be the difficult part.
As for a job after I graduate, I am currently in the application process for the US Air Force Officer Training School. They seem to be taking their time getting back to me, so I've got to look at other avenues for employment. I've received e-mail's from Bridgestone Americas and Trane. I've also recently applied for an interview with Pratt and Whitney.
Oh dear, I just glanced up and saw how long my letter is. I hope my Dad's letters weren't this long. I tend to write with too much detail.
Anyway, I just wanted to say thanks again for all your support. I will attach a few pictures and the speech that I gave at my Dad's memorial ceremony.
