Thread: My grandfather
View Single Post
Luca
ಠ_ರೃ
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Minnesota
 
2006-02-02, 02:39

I haven't been talking to very many people about this, but on second thought I think it's a good thing to mention.

On the Monday before last (January 23rd), my grandfather (George Isaacs) passed away. He had been sick for many months with prostate cancer, so it wasn't at all unexpected. My grief has not been especially deep, probably because of the circumstances. It seems as though he simply finished up what was an excellent life.

The funeral last Monday was probably about as good as it could have possibly been. My grandfather was a tremendous advocate of light rail transit and was instrumental in the adoption of LRT in the Twin Cities. He was also one of the most likable, sociable people I ever knew. 319 people showed up to the service—more than could fit in the chamber both sitting and standing. People had to stand outside in the hallway.

The service started with one of his favorite songs, Finlandia, on the organ. It then segued into—get this—"I've Been Working On The Railroad" on the piano. That was his one request for a song. Although it was held in my grandmother's Presbyterian church, the service was mostly non-religious as my grandfather was a non-orthodox Jew.

After the service, we actually had two 1954-vintage city buses to bring people to the light rail station. They had an entire train sectioned off for us, and we got to ride for free. The train brought us to Fort Snelling, where we got back on the buses and attended a military burial (he served in the Pacific in WWII). While we were there, we could hear the light rail trains in the background blowing their horns—a friend at Metro Transit had arranged for all trains passing by Fort Snelling for about an hour-long period to sound their whistles.

A reporter and photographer from the Minneapolis Star Tribune was there interviewing people. The STrib published this story on the subject:

http://www.startribune.com/465/story/215382.html

Anyway, I was just thinking about the funeral and how great I thought it was. I have not been to many funerals, but I feel so happy that my grandfather got such a good one. Other than the burial at Fort Snelling (which was very somber), the whole thing was upbeat and it wasn't sad at all. The last one I went to was when a friend of mine died from cystic fibrosis at a very young age, and that one was understandably a very unhappy event.
  quote