In Memory of Great-Grandpa Wellnitz

Kevin's grandpa, Dave Sr., passed away on February 23rd, 2010.  We went up to Seattle last week for the services.  Rosary, funeral with full mass, and burial.  You know how the Catholics roll; lots of prayers, lots of tradition, lots of food and drink.  It was strange having this funeral just 2 short months after Kevin's cousin Charley's death and service.  The mood was very different.  People were sad, but not shocked and heartbroken sad.  There's a big difference.  We honored a long life full of accomplishment and family.  "The Kennedy's of Wedgwood" the priest called the Wellnitz family of Seattle.  Pretty impressive legacy.  So many traits of his that were mentioned in the eulogy I can see and appreciate in Dave, Jr. and in Kevin.  Good with numbers. Slightly anal, okay, maybe really anal.  Family as the most important thing.  An honest, trustworthy man.  And of course there is the physical resemblance:

Link to the obit here.

And it was great to see the Seattle family and stay with Pat and Veronica and Finoosh (Finn) again.  We had probably one of the best sandwiches of my life here on Tuesday night.  And I don't make that comment lightly.  Sandwiches are serious business.  Thanks to Pat and Nika for the hospitality as usual.  When are you coming to Portland by the way?

Oh, and we had a few interesting conversations with Petie around the subject of death and funerals.  He asked very loudly at the burial, "where's the box?"  And when it was over I asked him to please not dance around on the headstones because that's where people are buried and he asked, "is this heaven?"  He also saw Kevin's uncle Doran (who has salt and pepper hair and uses a cane due to his MS) and said, "Poppa's Dad isn't dead Daddy, he's right there."  Oh, wow.  There were more that I can't even remember.  He doesn't miss a thing.