Categories: uncategorized
Date: 12 September 2007 18:59:27
Today was my uncle's funeral.
One of the things about funerals is that you sometimes learn things that you never knew about people. You also get to hear the sanitised version of someone's life as well. As the preacher sums up a life you listen and think: "I never knew that". Or: "That's crap for a start".
They say that you should never speak ill of the dead. I believe that you should never tell lies about the dead. If you knew and loved the person then, whatever their faults, only telling part of their story is doing them an injustice.
One of the points covered was that Gilbert used to sing in the church choir, as a child, and pump the organ - electric ones being an expensive thing then - he would then noticeably fall asleep during the sermon, probably from all that pumping. It was also mentioned that he would also ring the church bell but not that one day he pulled so hard that he brought it crashing through the church porch.
Those that knew him best said that he was the most charming man to be around from Sunday to Thursday but on Friday and Saturday he became another person entirely because of the drink. That's what ruined his first marriage and helped to drive people away from him. Yet he was loved no less because of his faults than for his charm.
It was good that the family got the chance to get together and catch up. The sorrow is that it took his death for this to happen.