F.J. Funeral

My grandfather Francis Joseph Gilg passed away on March 12th, he was 95 years old. I went to Nebraska for the funeral.

I met Joseph in Minneapolis and we flew together for the last leg of our flights. Joseph rented a car in Omaha and we drove straight into Atkinson that night, stopping only for groceries at Baker’s, next to the No Frills Supermarket. I guess they may be common in the region, but I hadn't seen one before and was impressed with the frankness of the franchise. I expect a competitor calling themselves "Supermarket with Frills" someday.

The following day was spent mostly at the funeral home for the viewing of the body. The next day was the service and the burial. I had never attended a Catholic funeral before and figured it was one last thing grandpa Fritz was teaching me about. It was really nice to see so much of the family, despite the somber occasion. Quite a few people asked about my brain-scramble incident in December, I suppose it was the last news they had of me. On the whole it was an emotionally exhausting couple of days, but the support and grace of the uncles, the cousins, the rest of the family and all the well-wishers was tremendously heartening.

Like most Gilg gatherings evenings were spent doing one or more of the following:

playing cards

drinking beer

bullshitting and catching up.