Memorial Day in Ephraim

This year was a special year for our Memorial Day tradition of meeting family at a cemetery to discuss an ancestor. It has been 10 years next month since my Mom passed away, which is easy to remember because it was just 2 weeks before Mark was born.

I decided that we were celebrating Mom this year and asked each of my siblings to record a few memories and come prepared to talk about Mom. I was excited because my brother Gary planned his trip to paint Grandma's house so that it would coincide with Memorial Day.

The kids sure love Grandpa Ockey

We finished Mark and Dax's final soccer games (Mark and Dax scored 2 goals each) and headed down to meet the Alder's at Roy's for pizza. Then we arrived at the cemetery. We counted around 35 people there to talk and celebrate their memories of Mom. We had 6 of the 8 Ockey siblings (Debbie and Jim didn't make it, but Jim did write a tribute), and we passed out the tributes and talked about Mom until it started to rain. Then we all packed up and headed to the house where we spent another 2 hours or so talking in the yard. It was kind of an exciting time, because this was the first time Todd and Cate had their little twin girls out of isolation for a family event. Natalie looked around and she said, "This is exactly what your Mom would have wanted: All her kids together with the grandkids chasing around the yard."

I think she's exactly right. This was one of the nicest Memorial Days we've every had.

The whole gang at the Ockey home in Ephraim

All the kids spent the afternoon climbing through the hedge, and ended with lots of scratches, but no tears!

John's Tribute
Laurie's Tribute
Jim's Tribute
Gary's Tribute
Sandy's Tribute
Randy's Tribute
Amy's Tribute
Natalie's Tribute
Laurie's Kids Tribute