Two Funerals In Two Weeks

One funeral was in New York Mills, Minnesota. The other was in Blaine, Minnesota. Both funerals were Lutheran. Both offered meals after the service. Both had a minister and music and readings. Both were people who lived long past the normal life expectancy. Both were loved by family and friends. Both gave their time and talent back to the people in their community. Both were intelligent, kind, and caring people who were successful in raising a family and providing for the needs of that family. Both worked very hard and came from poverty. Both suffered and both succeeded. One, a woman, was 100% Finnish extraction. She loved saunas and Finnish culture. She watched the birds and loved to fish and garden. The other, a man, was born in Germany. His parents saw the writing on the wall in Berlin before the war. They sent their 7 year old boy to Switzerland with his slightly older sister to live with strangers. When the money stopped coming from Berlin he assumed they died. He was right. They were exterminated in Auschwitz. He was sent to Iowa by a Lutheran relief agency and became an American. He loved books and drama and nature. Both were patriotic. I felt it an honor to attend both funerals.