There were about two hundred people at my brother-in-law’s memorial service. I’ve never seen a chapel so packed out for a funeral. All of them came to the reception afterwards.
I took this photo after about half had already left.
Yes, that’s Shawn Green, the baseball player, in the middle of the room.
Who didn’t Rafael know??
More importantly, who didn’t know and love him?
It’s quite a testament to a man’s life when so many people show up to pay their respects at the end of it.
He was the life of every party and the very Cuban heart of our family.
This is why we’ll all miss him so much:
This is just the first 4 minute segment of a fifteen-minute tribute video beautifully cut together by my talented Amy.
The song: *Lo Que Esta Pa Ti (Nadie te lo quita) by Willy Chirino
(*Loosely translated – "What’s meant for you, no one can take away")
Karen:
You’ll never get this many people to come to my funeral.
Michael:
Oh, Karen, I’ll come. And . . . you know . . . I’ll bring a date.
~ from The Big Chill
We were so honored at how many people came to my dad’s funeral, which was held in his hometown, far from his friends in northern Wisconsin. We had people flying in from all over. We were also touched at how many people showed up at my grandmother’s house (where my mom, brother, sister and I were staying while my dad was dying) a few hours after he died, bearing casseroles.The funeral was sad, but at the lunch after, we all kept saying, “The only thing missing from this party is Dad!” We were very sad but also so relieved that his suffering was over (he had very painful cancer). We were glad that there were so many friends and family to share memories and to remind us that this was a man who was truly, deeply loved and missed.