One Year

Dear Father, grandfather, husband, brother, son, uncle, and friend:   It is hard to believe that it has been a year since we had to say goodbye for now. We have spent this year remembering you and cherishing the wonderful memories we had when you were here with us. Some days we feel as though heaven is so close and we know you are watching over us.

There are so many people whose lives were touched in such wonderful ways by George. We are trying to live each day to honor what he stood for and tried to do every day of his life - True service to those we come in contact with...dear friends and neighbors and and those we meet for but a moment. George has left a wonderful legacy to live up to and I know each of us are striving each day to do so. I found this poem and it seemed just perfect.

A Letter From Heaven

To my dearest family, some things Id like to say.
But first of all, to let you know, that I arrived okay.
I'm writing this from heaven.
Here I dwell with God above.
Here, theres no more tears of sadness;
Here is just eternal love.
Please do not be unhappy just because I'm out of sight.
Remember that I am with you every morning, noon and night.
That day I had to leave you when my life on earth was through.
God picked me up and hugged me and He said, I welcome you.
Its good to have you back again, you were missed while you were gone.
As for your dearest family, They'll be here later on.
I need you here so badly, you are part of my plan.
There is so much that we can do, to help our mortal man.
God gave me a list of things, that he wished for me to do.
And foremost on the list, was to watch and care for you.
And when you lie in bed at night the days chores put to flight.
God and I are closest to you....in the middle of the night.
When you think of my life on earth, and all those loving years.
Because you are only human, they are bound to bring you tears.
But do not be afraid to cry; it does relieve the pain.
Remember there would be no flowers, unless there was some rain.
I wish that I could tell you all that God has planned.
If I were to tell you, you wouldn't understand.
But one thing is for certain, though my life on earth is over.
I'm closer to you now, than I ever was before.
There are rocky roads ahead of you and many hills to climb;
But together we can do it by taking one day at a time.
It was always my philosophy and Id like it for you too;
That as you give unto the world, the world will give to you.
If you can help somebody who is in sorrow and pain;
Then you can say to God at night....My day was not in vain.
And now I am contented... that my life was worthwhile.
Knowing as I passed along the way I made somebody smile.
So if you meet somebody who is sad and feeling low;
Just lend a hand to pick them up, as on your way you go.
When you're walking down the street and you've got me on your mind;
I'm walking in your footsteps only half a step behind.
And when its time for you to go...from that body to be free.
Remember you're not going...you're coming here to me.

Ruth Ann Mahaffey

 

My Uncle - Christy Jo McFarland

Well my uncle was an amazing man and I have honestly had such a hard time with him being gone. I remember so many good times and tender moments when I think of my uncle George. He was a great comfort to me growing up and was mistaken for my Dad more than once. But I didn't care because he was a great place to rest my head and he always had hugs to spare. My fondest memories were of my diving days in high school. I really wanted to learn from the best so I somehow got my uncle George to help me out at the Clearfield Pool. He was patient, persistent, and a great example of hard work paying off. He was also very patient because I was not as talented as we thought.....but I did get the most improved diver award and my letter in diving by the time of my junior year. I cherish the memories of my time with my uncle at the pool and him diving into the water and me wishing I could do as well. I loved my uncle so much and am so sad that I didn't get to tell him that he was such an influence and example to me. I hope he knows that I can now do handstand push-ups and that every time that I dive into the water I will think of him. Love you Uncle George, CJ

The Viewing

I would like to start out by apologizing for not being able to put pictures up from the viewing until now. Here are just a few from the beautiful viewing that was held at Russon Brothers in Bountiful on February 18, 2011. We would like to thank the wonderful ladies at Heartfelt Blossoms for the amazing flowers they put together, as well as a big thank you to friends and family who sent flowers/greenery's. Thank you to everyone who came, as well as others who sent their love from far away.  We are very lucky to have such sweet loving family and friends that supported us through this hard time in our lives. We love dad very much and miss him dearly everyday.

The wreath from the grandkids.

 Thank you to Windle for doing a great job burning Dads initials into his casket.

 One of the tables that was set up of pictures and memories of George.

 Some of his favorite treats!

Aunt Verna's Memory

George was a very special young man and I loved him dearly. He helped me so many times. The last being on Wednesday, February 9th, when he installed a new water heater for me. He was always doing nice, kind things for people.
My love and prayers are with all of you.
                                                             Aunt Verna

The Grandkids

                                MILO                  MAKINZIE                  EMMA

                                   CAMERON                           COOPER

On this day we took all the grandkids to the fire park to take pictures for

a Mother's Day present. They had such a great time with grandpa getting some 

really fun pictures. These will always be a treasured memory.

A few pics of good times with Grandpa

Kaysville 4th of July Parade

                                                             Fishing and Camping- An inherited love

           Makinzie's 6th Birthday at Chuck E Cheeses

Posted in the Davis County Clipper Value Speak: Mining for interpersonal gold By Joseph Walker

George was my best friend in elementary school.

Which is not to say I didn’t have other friends.  I did.  I grew up with a great bunch of guys: Albert, Ron and Don (yeah, they were twins), Dean and Kenny, to name just five. We tended to do things as a group (did someone say “pack?”) whenever we could – riding bikes, playing basketball and football, building forts in empty lots, sledding and stealing . . . er, borrowing raspberries from Grandma Hayes’ raspberry bushes.

But when we couldn’t get the guys all together, George and I always managed to find a way to hang out.  We climbed the fruit trees in his yard.  We teased his little sister Patty and my big sister Kathy.  We played army. We played one-on-one football (I was the huge one that he couldn’t bring down; he was the speedy one that I couldn’t catch). We spied on Gayle.

In fact, Gayle was the only thing we ever fought about.  Gayle was my on-again, off-again girlfriend (we liked each other in 3rd, 5th and 7th grades, so it was on, off, on-again, off-again, on-again, off-again, to be technically correct).  George kind of liked her, too – but it was awkward for him, because they were sort of relatives (I never really understood HOW they were related – just that they were).  So he wasn’t supposed to like her – it was against the commandments or the Beatitudes or something – but he kind of did. And it was upsetting to him when I told him about playing kissing games with Gayle in her back yard.

Yes, Gayle – I told George.  I know I told you that I didn’t, but I did.

There.  I feel better getting that off my chest, even though it took me 48 years to do it.

The thing is, I told George pretty much everything back then. That’s just the way it was with us. We’d sit up there in one of his trees, or we’d lie on our backs in his backyard (which was way better than my backyard) and look up at the clouds, and we’d talk. We talked about everything, and we knew everything about each other. He knew about that “men’s” magazine I had stolen a few . . . well, OK, maybe a dozen . . . peeks at.  I knew about the homework assignment he had cheated on. And we schemed together about how to get Kathy to marry one of his older brothers – Vic or Dave, it didn’t really matter to us. We just wanted to be family.

You know – sort of like him and Gayle were.  Whatever that meant.

At one point in our friendship our moms got together and decided we were seeing way too much of each other.  As I recall, this came around the time that we started inviting each other over for dinner every day. George’s family had their big meal at lunchtime, and we had our big meal in the evening.  So every day for about a week we ate two big meals a day.  We were in heaven – but our moms had had enough. We couldn’t see each other or talk on the phone for a week.  It was hard – we both went through a sort of withdrawal.  But at the end of the week everything was the same as it was, only we were both down to one big meal per day.

Eventually junior high put the distance between us that our mothers couldn’t. We were still friends, but we started hanging with different groups (in other words, I was a band nerd and George wasn’t – end of story). We still said “hi” in the halls and we talked at church and stuff, but it was never really the same.  We drifted further apart in high school, and have only bumped into each other occasionally after that. Still, it was sobering when Gayle sent me an e-mail yesterday to let me know that George had died. Even though I haven’t seen him in years, I felt an emptiness and a sadness that I never would have anticipated.  Evidently the bonds forged while playing in fruit trees and lying on your back looking at clouds are strong.

And today I find myself wishing I had made an effort to communicate with George or to go to dinner with him or something. You know what I mean?  I’m not riddled with guilt or angst or anything like that – I’d just like to spend some time with an old, dear friend. Only now I can’t.

Maybe there’s a George in your life, too. I know – our lives are all busy, and we have so much to do with work and family and current relationships that we have little time to go searching for friends in our past. I understand that. But if it’s true, as the poet Joseph Parry wrote, that we should “make new friends, but keep the old; those are silver; these are gold” . . . well, maybe we should try to find some time now and then to mine for a little interpersonal gold.

Which reminds me . . . I wonder what Albert is up to these days?

Read more: Davis County Clipper - Value Speak Mining for interpersonal gold