Today’s Funeral Card Friday post is for my grand-uncle, Franklin J. Hill. Unfortunately, I can’t say that I particularly remember my grand uncle as I probably only met him a handful of times, and he passed away when I was only 8. I remember Mom talking about “Uncle Frankie” from time to time, but that is about it.
Franklin was the youngest child of my great grandparents, John and Clara (Paessler) Hill. Frankie was born 09 Aug 1923, and died 5 March 1979.
Grandma Link died when I was just six years old. I have only snatches of memories of the times that my sister and I spent with her…mostly random memories both from the house she lived in and then the apartment she moved to toward the end of her life. But one thing that I still very vividly remember is her funeral.
Grandma Link’s funeral was my first experience with death (at least the first that I remember since my Grandma and Grandpa Washler both died before I was even 5). It’s funny the things that our mind holds on to as memories… I remember standing outside of the church before they had taken the casket in and talking with my father about why Grandma looked so alive. I remember him taking me for a walk to talk about death and what it meant. I’ll be darned if I remember what was said, but I remember the day and what the trees looked like. If I were to walk back into that church today, I am almost positive that I could point to exactly where I was standing when that conversation started.
Sometimes I think that one of the best things about family history research is the memories that it can bring back to the surface.
Happy digging!
Digging Up Roots 