Francis Lane Reese 1910 – 1966
Alice Ida Heydt Reese 1915 – 1995
Married March 24, 1948
Bob Edsel Yager 1924 – 2013
Lucille Louise Isensee Yager 1924 – 2020
Married February 18, 1945
The day you bury your last parent – or mother-figure – there is a permanent mark placed in your life’s calendar. There is no need for Mother’s Day or Father’s Day cards. No searching for the perfect gift for the one who only-wanted-your-time. No-one waiting for your visit.
Grief comes freely. You take long walks in the woods. You stare out the window seeing straight through to your childhood. You remember your oblivion to your parents’ experiences. Your lack of appreciation. Your impatience. Your quick judgment of what your parents lacked; no note of what they gave.
Memories beget grief. Border collies and poodles. Fords and Cadillacs. Your granddaughter
plays your parents’ favorite song at her school recital. Your eyes spy deviled eggs on the church pot-luck table. Today, in the shower, you double over in grief as you realize there would be no more calls to talk over your day.
One day your boots touch the edge of river bottom field. Your grandfather took weeks to ready with his team of horses and single plow. The day the new green Oliver arrived, Dad climbed up the tall tractor to plow the field in days. Our next generation arrives with a GPS guided tractor to plant the field in a few hours.
Move forward in hope and love.
