Sue's Funeral was tender and beautiful and joyful and heartrendingly sad and incredibly peaceful.
We came on Thursday night to help set up, then held a viewing Friday morning before the Funeral Services. I don't know how to put into words the feeling of having Sue there, without her Spirit there. Just a tender sense of missing her and being grateful for her all at the same time.
The displays were beautiful though. All of the things that she loved most in life and the things that were special parts of her. There were family pictures and items she made for her family. There were things like her spoons and bells, her hat, Ovaltine and Sees chocolates, books, old movies, and pieces from her Christmas Village. It was a lovely tribute to her and her life.
There were a lot of people who attended, including Scott and Lori Walker, Zuriel Knowles, Matthew (and Juniper) Walker, and Melissa Larson from my family. Eide Bailly also made a large show of support, with many of David's coworkers and several of the Partners coming to support. Just a few days before the funeral, it was announced firm-wide that David will be made a partner in May. We decided not to tell anyone, or even to celebrate, until after the funeral - but having the Eide Bailly crew there meant a lot to us. Sue had family and friends from near and far come to show their love for her and it was beautiful to see.
I'm glad we got to take these pictures before the family prayer.
(Left) The Cal and Sue Peaden Family: Jeffrey, Amy, Bruce, Wendy, Cal, Sue, Matthew, David, Kevin
(Right) Kaylee, Jeff, Jacob, Josh, Amy, Bruce, Wendy, Sam, Cal, Matt, Kevin, Zachary, David, Shantel, Nathan, Jaycee, Ryker, Logan, Aubrey, Lucy, Lydia, Austin, Caleb.
Those who attended the family prayer:
The program was as follows:
David and Kevin did a beautiful job speaking about their memories of their mother and the impact she had on their lives.
David was a pallbearer and Austin and Caleb were listed as Honarary Pallbearers.
Sue was buried in the West Jordan City Cemetery
(7925 South 1300 West, West Jordan, Utah)
Cal gave a brief but sincere dedication of the gravesite.
The flowers were beautiful and with the dedication of the grave there seemed to come a sense of finality. Not that Sue's death was final, but that this was the final piece needed to close this chapter and to wait until the next act. An easing of breath and a feeling of peace.
I don't know if David would agree with that. He can insert his thoughts here:
The funeral was beautiful and the happiest thing for me was just being with my family. I loved doing the display table with my siblings and feel like that was really connecting and was so good to remember so many things about my Mom. I think the funeral did help to make it so we could move to the next stage of grief. I was happy that I could share memories of my Mom at the funeral with Kevin and I think she would have been happy listening to our stories. I am so grateful for my siblings, who were there to support me. I hope we were all good supports for my Dad. I was really grateful for the many co-workers who came to the funeral. I am not much for socializing, but I was able to talk to many of the neighbors and friends who my Mom lived by and had friendships with for such a long time.
They moved the display tables into the cultural hall for the luncheon and I snapped a few more shots of them. So many things on this table are personally meaningful to me. The blessing dress she made for Lydia. The blankets she sewed for each of my babies. The chocolates she hand selected at Christmastime making sure your See's box was filled with your very favorites. The beautifully wrapped presents and pictures of her family. I love this woman so much and am incredibly grateful for the impact she has had upon my life. She took me in as one of her own and often called me her "daughter-in-love" or "an angel". I adored her and am grateful for every single minute we spent together.
We came back to the house after the funeral was finished and everyone received a small See's chocolate wrapped in a baggie. We sat around the house for the rest of the day just resting and talking. We were grateful to be able to visit with Matt who flew in just for the day and was leaving early the next morning for a flight back home. It was an emotional but peaceful day and we are grateful that there weren't any rough spots (i.e. no family drama, no one getting stuck in traffic and missing it, no other emergencies). We spent the day remembering and celebrating Sue and I think she would have been really, really happy.
