Family and Friends Begin to Gather

May 30, 2014
Santa Clara, CA
(one of three to get caught up)

It was inevitable that the call would come. Wayne passed away on the afternoon of May 1, 2014, peacefully in his sleep, with wife Marilynn reading him poetry. He had made the long trip in the ambulance and spent his last week at home where Gumby the cat could say goodbye. Daughter Jessica and two of his grandsons were there as well.

Hospice is a wonderful program, and they made final arrangements quickly and efficiently. Now it was time to plan the celebration of Wayne's life for all his family and friends to remember and honor him.

Unfortunately, Bill's company was relocating in May and it was mandatory for all employees to work the first three weekends. Bill presence was critical for moving and restocking a full warehouse. He was already going to miss seeing his dear friend Tommy and now there was a memorial to plan as well! Very stressful :-(.

No one wanted to wait weeks, but Uncle Bill had to be there so the celebration was scheduled for May 31. Although the warehouse move was completed early and we got to see Tommy on the third weekend, the added time did give the daughters more time to make arrangements that otherwise would have been rushed.  We were forgiven for the delay :-).

So this morning we headed north to Santa Clara for tomorrow's celebration. Several schedules to juggle but the SoCal family were able to make it work with two vehicles about four hours apart. Travis and Richie rode with us. Picked Richie up from school and were on I-5 a little after noon.

We expected to hit traffic once we got to the bay area, but the only slow down was near Avenal in the Central Valley and lasted over an hour. Weird. A couple pit stops and we arrived about 4:30 to much cooler temps and lots of hugs.

Melissa (Wayne's youngest daughter) and her husband Joe had space outside to gather and eat and arrange the flowers for tomorrow's tables.  The second SoCal Jeep arrived, local family and friends joined us, and we got a head start on Wayne-stories.  It was a lovely evening with lots of smiles and intermittent tears.



Table bouquets

Uncle Bill

Lauren and her mom Melissa

Richie

Travis and Beau

All photos courtesy of friend MeMe

I picked Michelle up from the airport (our dear friend from San Clemente) and we visited for a couple more hours before making our way to the nearby hotel. The Holiday Inn Express in Santa Clara is newly remodeled and an exceptionally nice hotel. The "front" door is a bit confusing and I will have to hear about my choice of parking space for years.........