everyone...if a man was to have a funeral, god couldn't have picked a more beautiful day than yesterday. the sun was shining, very light wind and the temperature outside just shy of 70 degrees. perfect..
kurt valentine drove down from jefferson city, mo, to my home the night before. i cooked us a meal and we crashed early to get up at 6 am to get ready for the 3 hour drive to mount pleasant, tx. as it turned out, we met mark wilson at the funeral home within minutes of each other..warren would have approved of our nearly perfect 'timing'.
bob aines (boba) followed mark from dallas as well.
what mark did for warren, and equally important for his sister pat..and their extended family at large simply cannot be put into words. he opened up his heart and gave a glowing, warm tribute to warren at the funeral very fitting for a very remarkable man. i'll leave it to mark to provide the additional details of warren's life, as he's earned the privilege to share with us those parts of warren unknown to the rest of us, but shared first-hand to mark and to those of us at the funeral itself.
before the funeral, family had prepared food for everyone and we were able to meet them personally prior to the service in an adjacent building reserved for such affairs. the funeral itself was in a very small church, 'bethel chapel', that could possibly hold 100 people, and those in attendance were his extended family, a couple friends..and five of us representing his 'extended pelican family'. ned, another pelican (racking my brain for his screen name..he'll have to chime in) from nearby pittsburgh, tx, i believe it was, also attended.
warren's very sweet sister, pat..is simply devastated by the loss of her dear brother. it was a privilege to have had the opportunity to meet her and to listen to her speak for about an hour of her childhood days with warren - they were fewer than two years apart in age. warren was quite the prodigy..apparently reading at the comprehension level by age two, could fix anything, built model rockets at times 'manned' by either a live frog or hamster named 'snoopy' that he and his sister had had a vet carefully implant wires as a means for monitoring 'vital signs'. apparently, warren intended to get someone into space back in the early sixties if the united states space program wasn't going to get things moving along fast enough to suit him!
pat also took a great deal of time to try and find the words to express just how much your acts of kindness, in trying to save his life through your prayers and donations to his cause, meant to him. mark wilson had visited warren in the hospital on several occasions, and although he labored for breath and in such pain, mark's donation of the use of a laptop with a wireless connection meant that warren last day's were spent filled with HOPE and in the presence of a great out-pouring of love from those of us who extended our hearts out to him. he read every single post we made - every single one - up until his final hour. he was fully aware of the magnificent outpouring of affection and effort, and pat believes it amounted unbelievably to giving warren a sense of peace, helping to put his amazing life into perspective as evidenced by the broad groupings, countless numbers his mind reached. the humble, amazing genius of a man was simply moved beyond measure. you did a wonderful thing for a very, very, very deserving man in warren hall. his sister, his family, all want you to know it..and mark wilson will be providing more of the same in finer detail. what a job mark did in coordinating this effort, seeing it through to the very best of his ability, and again for his warm tribute..
after the service, which included remarks from other family members, singing of beautiful, familiar hymns..to include several vocal solos - a capella - from a member of his family, we caravaned the short distance to the grave side service. another solo, this time, 'amazing grace', was quite fitting. pat requested some time alone with her brother, so the rest of us returned to our cars, met up with her later and said our final goodbyes to one another.
this pelican community may very legitimately call itself now a member of warren's 'extended family'..and ought to be very proud. it was impossible not to look into the eyes of his grateful family, his sister, and not be moved by their expressions of joy and gratitude for the offerings by the so many of us who were committed to his cause. was it a day to be proud to call yourself a pelican in helping this wonderful family to celebrate the LIFE of warren hall, jr.? oh yes..yes it was..
i'll attach what pics i took with my camera phone. i apologize for their quality. i think mark's camera will later reveal some things with more clarity..
kurt shortly after his arrival at my home, seated in my kitchen, having a bourbon while i cook..
me cooking..
hitting the road, riding in kurt's beautiful red '86 911.
gassing up, still on the way in east texas..
