Today was my Mom's funeral service. It was a beautiful warm sunny day, for October it felt like mid-summer.
Both families came and it was nice to see cousins, aunts and uncles and other friends gather for this remembrance of her life.
My Dad had picked her favourite flowers, two big bouquets of White Roses mix in with 3 yellow roses to symbolize us, her 3 kids. I had previously made the musical arrangements for this sung Requiem Mass in the very same Chapel of the Saint-Laurent Parish Church where my parents were married 58 years ago. The old bells from the towering belfry pealed before and after the service, they had the sound of ages past.
The priest who officiated at the service Father Yvon Cousineau entire family, he told us, are from Ville Saint-Laurent. He conducted a beautiful service which I found to be inspired. Julie Berthiaume was the Soprano who sang accompanied by the organ.
The parish cemetery at the rear of the Church goes back 290 years and several generations are buried there as you can see by reading the monuments amongst the old trees. I recognized the names of several other families who married into ours. It has a feeling of a familiar place, of home, of people we once knew or had heard of.
Will said a few words in Eulogy and I am very happy he did, he was not sure at first if he wanted to do it but he certainly brought back wonderful memories and I also delivered a Eulogy to her as the person we children remembered best.
It was a very dignified and beautiful service and I am very happy that we could do this for my mother. Afterwards several of us went to the cemetery to see the old Gougeon family stone monument which has been standing on that spot since 1790 with the 3 symbols carved into it, a laurel wreath, a star of Bethlehem and two hands in reconciliation. It has been there as a marker for 220 years, difficult to understand in this age of technology. My Mom as was her wish, will be buried there in the Spring where her parents, grand-parents, other siblings and ancestors rest.
Both families came and it was nice to see cousins, aunts and uncles and other friends gather for this remembrance of her life.
moments before the start of the Requiem Mass
My Dad had picked her favourite flowers, two big bouquets of White Roses mix in with 3 yellow roses to symbolize us, her 3 kids. I had previously made the musical arrangements for this sung Requiem Mass in the very same Chapel of the Saint-Laurent Parish Church where my parents were married 58 years ago. The old bells from the towering belfry pealed before and after the service, they had the sound of ages past.
The priest who officiated at the service Father Yvon Cousineau entire family, he told us, are from Ville Saint-Laurent. He conducted a beautiful service which I found to be inspired. Julie Berthiaume was the Soprano who sang accompanied by the organ.
The parish cemetery at the rear of the Church goes back 290 years and several generations are buried there as you can see by reading the monuments amongst the old trees. I recognized the names of several other families who married into ours. It has a feeling of a familiar place, of home, of people we once knew or had heard of.
Will said a few words in Eulogy and I am very happy he did, he was not sure at first if he wanted to do it but he certainly brought back wonderful memories and I also delivered a Eulogy to her as the person we children remembered best.
It was a very dignified and beautiful service and I am very happy that we could do this for my mother. Afterwards several of us went to the cemetery to see the old Gougeon family stone monument which has been standing on that spot since 1790 with the 3 symbols carved into it, a laurel wreath, a star of Bethlehem and two hands in reconciliation. It has been there as a marker for 220 years, difficult to understand in this age of technology. My Mom as was her wish, will be buried there in the Spring where her parents, grand-parents, other siblings and ancestors rest.
Sounds like a beautiful send off.
ReplyDeleteIt really was.
DeleteHow did you do with the eulogy?
ReplyDeleteIt went well.
Delete