Memories of Marcia

Cheri and I drove up the canyon above Bakersfield to the small community of Lake Isabella last Friday for the memorial service for my Dad's sister Marcia who lost her five year battle with cancer. Dad and Mom decided that they'd fly home from their mission to attend, and then realized they weren't going anywhere since Dad's passport had been taken by the Lancashire authorities in order to get his driver's license issued and wasn't probably going to get it back for another week. Yep, a lot of rigamarole for a driver's license, but they don't issue that many there, so it's quite the accomplishment that he got one. Anyways, Cheri and I wanted to make sure we got everything taped and recorded that we could for Dad and I'm sure everyone was wondering who those annoying girls with the cameras were.
We were allowed to audio tape the memorial service, which was very nice. Each of the girls spoke of their memories of their mom and it was sweet to hear. Afterward the Relief Society had lunch set up for EVERYONE who had attended. Every table had beautiful flowers and a picture of Marcia from some point in her life. They had the stage arranged with other pictures and the video from their anniversary party. It was a wonderful setting to mingle with others and it sparked a lot of conversations of "remember when". Aunt Joan had spent the last two weeks there and was just overwhelmed by the amazing amount of casseroles and dinners that were sent. They even had huge egg and ham filled croissants delivered one morning for breakfast. Between church and her teaching at the local school I have no doubt that Marcia knew at least 90% of the community there and everyone who knew her loved her so I'm not too surprised at the attention.

After that we drove down to the Greenlawn Cemetary in Bakersfield for the graveside service. It was a gorgeous day with lots of sun and a slight breeze. The picture on the right is Debra's son Ian who went up to his Aunt Jenny to give her a hug.


Grandma Luke's long-time friend Pauline Young was there to pay her respects. I remember visiting her home as a young girl and being fascinated that her husband always wore the cowboy style leather braid tie (a bolo?) with some sort of big silver arrowhead clasp of some sort. I'm amazed at how good she looks and moves for being in her 90's.

Kari's kids Austin & Taylor were with Michele's twins Adam & Luke the entire day. I think they self-appointed themselves "Keepers of the Kids". The picture to the left is Taylor holding Adam like a baby. It cracked me up that he sat there so quietly since I would have been terrified of her dropping me since she's only a foot taller than he is.


Taylor sat close to her dad during the memorial service and occasionally would wipe the tears away. When the Bishop asked at the graveside service if anyone would like to say anything Taylor was the first to stand and talk about how much she loved her Grandma. I was impressed that she and Ian would feel comfortable enough to do that in front of all the adults.

There was a good size crowd that attended the graveside service and some long-time friends of the Luke family that weren't able to attend the memorial service were able to be there which was really nice.

Here's Aunt Joan and Marcia's husband Steve with his nephew. Marcia's burial plot is in this really lovely walled area surrounded by cypress.

Here's the four girls together for a final picture before we left. They do their mom proud!