As you might have suspected since there have been no blogs, my brother, Pat, passed away on April 2 and his graveside service was last Wednesday, April 6. I was not with him with he died, but his son, Steven, daughter, Sandy, and Mike and Mary were. We had just arrived in Mt. Home with Nolan and Warren whom we had had with us in Steilacoom for the week, so we parked and locked the motor home and drove to Spokane on Sunday.

We will all miss him, but we have had time to share our special memories, and even a few laughs, and none of us wanted him to continue to be so ill. My greatest solace is in the fact that Pat returned to his Catholic faith within the hour of his death and a priest heard his confession and administered the last rites. Ironically, Pat died within hours of when Pope John Paul II died and I have to believe Pat’s entrance into heaven was special.

Craig and Colleen (and Cooper) drove to Spokane for the graveside service and Keith came from Baltimore. Brian could not leave the course he was attending in Virginia, but Sheila made a supreme effort to fly from Boise to Spokane and back in one day. Needless to say, our family was a great comfort to me.

While in Spokane this past week, since Jerry and Lois and Mike and Mary had full houses with relatives, we stayed with Rod and Karen Sprague who live just a few miles from Mike and Mary. Karen and I grew up together, but as often happens, we saw little of each other over the past 40 years. We have recently reconnected, and she and Rod provided a haven for Ken and me during this difficult week. In fact, they just purchased a new fifth wheel trailer, and we plan to meet up next week somewhere in the Walla Walla/Wallowa area.

At the moment, we are enroute back to Mt. Home where we will stay for the coming week to be present at Brian’s change of command next Thursday. We trust the motor home is still parked at the Mt. Home Famcamp. I prepaid for 2 weeks and Sheila said she drove by to be sure it was still there.

It is now Sunday, and we are back in Mt. Home having arrived about eleven last night. After a good night's sleep, we are ready for the week. I'll try to blog with greater frequency. Ciao