I learned earlier today that my cousin, James Carrel, died on 8 April. He almost made it to a century, dying at 99. Coincidentally, that was also his Mother's age when she died in 1997.
In 1985, when our Uncle, Leo Orr, the widower of our Aunt, Eva Weismiller Orr, died, Jim and I were pallbearers at the funeral. As the service was beginning the undertaker asked if any of us were Catholic, so the non-Catholics could 'take their cue' from us as to kneeling, standing, and sitting. I indicated that I was, and Jim did the same. I was confused. Aunt Dora wasn't a Catholic and I thought I was the first of our Grandfather's descendants to join the Church.
Our German Grandfather was driven out of the Church by the cruelty of the Irish nuns in the late 1860s. He was a member of the only German family in an otherwise solidly Irish Parish, and anti-German prejudice was rife amongst the Irish, from the Bishops on down. If an Irish child 'had an accident' he had to clean it up because he was 'just a German'. He left the Church as soon as he could and never went back.
So after the funeral, I asked Jim about it. It turned out that he had converted in 1938, 11 years before I was born and I converted in 1980.
Our family is (was) spread out in time. Our Grandparents were married in 1892. In fact some people have difficulty believing it. In 2017, on St Patrick's Day, I mentioned it was my Grandfather's 154th birthday. A friend of mine said that couldn't be right, that I must mean my great grandfather.When I pointed out that my father was born in 1910, he got the point.
I was the next to last grandchild born to our Grandparents, with my Sister, Marlene, coming along in 1952. Jim was the oldest, born in 1920. Our cousin, Max, born in 1936, and Sis and I are the only ones left. Jim outlived Don (born 1925) and Mary Orr (born 1926), Aunt Eva and Uncle Leo's children.
Eternal Rest grant unto Thy servant, James, O Lord. And let light perpetual shine upon him. May his soul, and the souls of all the faithful departed, rest in peace. Memory Eternal!
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments are subject to deletion if they are not germane. I have no problem with a bit of colourful language, but blasphemy or depraved profanity will not be allowed. Attacks on the Catholic Faith will not be tolerated. Comments will be deleted that are republican (Yanks! Note the lower case 'r'!), attacks on the legitimacy of Pope Francis as the Vicar of Christ (I know he's a material heretic and a Protector of Perverts, and I definitely want him gone yesterday! However, he is Pope, and I pray for him every day.), the legitimacy of the House of Windsor or of the claims of the Elder Line of the House of France, or attacks on the legitimacy of any of the currently ruling Houses of Europe.