more mr. herr

The calling at the funeral home was yesterday. It was a true testament to him and his family. I'm a bad judge of numbers, but there was a line out the door from 3:00 and the last people left around 9:00. I'm not sure how Mrs. Herr and the kids kept it together.

Mixed in with all of the sadness was the amazing sense of family and community that surrounds the Herr family. I think I saw everyone that I ever knew in Boone County and a lot that I didn't. I heard some great Mr. Herr stories, everything from pouring concrete to planting corn. I learned for the first time that he was a high-school basketball hero, big stuff in rural Indiana. I knew that he was faithful in attending the high-school games, but didn't know about his last-second-buzzer-beater shot against Lebanon rivals Frankfort (the mighty Hotdogs). There was a newspaper clipping headlined "A Whammy for Sammy" detailing the event. Apparently the shot was hotly contested and caused the time keeper to retire his post.

The grandchildren put together photoboards and Mary Beth made an amazing slide show of photographs.

As with almost everything I took my camera.

Fellow blogger and Herr neighbor Jerry. Read his amazing post about Mr. Herr here.

My brother J.R. and Mr. Wiley. Jerry's father is an amazing man and some of Jerry's best blog fodder.

Ben, son of Ann, grandson of Mr. Herr and godchild of Nora.

The June Bug lost a tooth!

Mary Beth's husband Fred's family came from Chicago. I was thrilled to meet more of the Brandstrader's. They are lovely and I'm looking forward to seeing them again.

We stopped for an spur of the moment bite to eat and beer on the way home. It was good to swap childhood stories and get to chat with the Brandstrader cousins some more.

As you can see, we were chatting too much to stand still for a proper photograph.

MB, JR, Beth, Dave, Ann and Nora.

Today was more teary for me than yesterday. Great notes and donations are arriving to Second Helpings in Mr. Herr's name, including one that made gasp (thanks Maureen).