The passing of an elect lady.....

In our ward we have a women who is 92 that passed away on Thursday, June 17, 2010! She was an amazing women who was the mother of 6 or 7 children and 40 grandchildren and great grandchildren and a Branch President's wife several times a Bishop's wife 4 times, and a Stake President's wife let alone the callings that she served in. Everyone who spoke about her at the funeral today said that she never had an unkind thing to say about anyone! And that is so very true! Her husband died 13 yrs ago so I know there is a happy reunion going on - on the other side of the veil!

But the main reason I tell this story is -- last night at 8:00 pm I was asked to sing a song for the funeral that I have never even heard let alone, sung! The daughters were going to try to sing it, but decided there was no way that they could have. And I know that having just had my mother's funeral, we didn't have as many musical numbers as I thought we would have had, because there was no way any of us were going to be singing at that event!

So, I plunked out the melody and practiced the song last night....."That Wonderful Mother of Mine" and I had Alan give me a Priesthood Blessing, so I could make it through the song, since I could hardly sing this song thinking of my own mother! And I practiced at the church this morning with the granddaughter of Sis. Leithead, that was going to play - once, and then sang for the funeral.

I did make one booboo in the middle, more because I did get a little emotional singing about a wonderful mother..... and it was not a familiar song to me.....but I believe it went well and I hope they were happy with how it went.....It was Sis. Leithead's favorite song! And since I couldn't sing at my own mother's funeral, it was an honor to do so for the Leithead family! I almost insisted that we go through it again to practice with the accompaniment, but it went so smoothly and perfectly in the 1st practice - no one thought it was necessary.....but it is a little unnerving to get up in front of a crowd, and sing something you have really only sung once before and only that morning right before. But my prayer is that it was good enough! I know it wasn't perfect -- and perfect is what I usually like to do when performing, but I do feel that I did this service with a great deal of love - even though it was completely out of my comfort zone to perform a number I haven't even heard and just given to me the night before.

Then we had the family meal to get ready and serve and it was really a special moment when 2 past RS Presidents came in the kitchen and made sure that we had everything we needed and went right to work helping to get things ready....this was our first funeral as a Presidency and we had forgotten a few things, but they all got taken care of and the family never knew and it was a wonderful dinner for them on this special day thanks to all the sisters in the Ward who helped and provided food. But I loved that those who know what it is like, having been RS Presidents before, made sure all was well, and volunteered to do many things to make the worry and work a lighter load!

It was a beautiful day!