Another Celebration of Life

When my brother, Milt, passed away December 3, 2012, it was his wish to have no funeral service.  Instead he wanted the family to gather in the summer for a celebration of life at Scott County Park where he and Robin were married.  So it was that his two daughters, Heather (35) and Angela (11) along with my sister-in-law Robin planned a celebration of life.

June 22 was a beautiful day at the Park.  There was a nice breeze and it was great fun pulling together all the last minute preparations. Milt wanted family to come together for fun, laughter, pranks, music, stories from the past and all that makes loved ones smile.

Immediate family members ordered shirts that said "Forever Strong 117" with a picture below with Milt in his stock car.  Other than faith and family -- racing was Milt's passion.  That passion started when he was no more than 10 years old and our dad, Richard Moorman was a crew chief for Lee Shannon (DJ at KSTT).  Racing was a family affair always

We had a large gathering of family (minus my two children Scott and Sondra and Doug's son Greg).  Friends from racing and friends of the family were also in attendance.  In all we had about 50 people who were there to celebrate a life well-lived. On that day, we all clearly understood why Milt's request involved this celebration.  Funerals will always carry a certain amount of sadness that cannot be denied.  Our family is large, rowdy, crazy, funny and full of jokesters.

Milt's racing friends surprised everyone by bring this race car to the park that day.  When the car pulled up there were private tears by many.  The site of that car brought about quiet hugs, soft tears and much love.  Milt was "with us in that gesture".
Our brother Doug and his friend Teddy had planned the surpise as a gesture to keep his legacy alive and with us on that day.  But only with the entry of that car did anyone seem sad.  We all miss "my little brother" (53 when he passed).  But  no one could deny he fought the great of his life trying to battle the colon cancer.


As with any family gathering, there was an abundance of delicious food.  Robin made sure she prepared and provided all of Milt's favorite foods.  Anita (my sister) even cooked bacon at the park because Milt loved bacon when he went camping.  Potato salad, baked beans, mac and cheese, meat balls, etc could have fed an army.

Amber, Angela, Abby, Anita, Kimberly 

Richard Mallette, Heather Easton

After eating there were the silly photo opts.  Richard (nephew) practiced jumping in front of the girls. That picture took a few takes to get it right.  Richard and Heather (left) have a friendly cousin discussion.


Then of course the girls had to get in the scene.  It was time for the guys to line up and the girls to do the jumping.  You can clearly see this "matriarch" oldest sibling was coordinating and taking pics.  No jumping for this lady.

Travis, John, Richard, Brian, Sean and Ryan (fellas)

And the added bonus for Robin was having her sister from Montana visiting to join in our celebration.  She is now our adopted sister. The more the merrier has been our motto.  Milt was instrumental in finding Robin's siblings on the Internet about a year before he passed away.  They were reunited after years of seperation.


This blog has been dedicated to what I have learned about faith, hope and love.  When our folks were alive, sadly there was considerable rivalry for parent attention and meaningless conflicts.  The folks would say "after we are gone, there won't be a family".  Well folks -- your family here on earth is alive and well. We have  pulled together knowing the best way to honor your love and teachings is to spend time together.  With faith we can all look beyond our obvious differences.  With hope we gather when any one of us is facing a life/health crisis.  And with love, we have a new awareness that our time here on earth is limited.  We know to hug, say "I love you", and spend time together.  I believe we have made you proud!  (Richard Moorman RIP 2-14-86)  (Lorraine Moorman RIP 12-3-98)

Thank you Lord for helping us discover what is most important! Some folks say, "We don't pick our families.  We pick our friends."  I don't think we are meant to pick our family.  Within our family we learn many lessons about life that carry into our personal lives.  And the lesson that may be most important is compassion.  WE ARE A FAMILY!  We are blessed.