A Stylish Journey Comes to a Close

Vera with her catch on the Carolina Fishing Pier.

We arose before dawn to start the journey to Mississippi, where Vera wished to be buried in the cemetery beside her husband, Harold.  As we drove out the driveway into the rising sun, Husband and I both said at the same instant, "This is like Lonesome Dove!  Remember how Woodrow promised Gus that he would take him home for burial, and what a trip it was??"  And then we laughed, because the reason Woodrow went through all that he did to get Gus home to be buried was the very reason that we were having a funeral spread out over the entire Southeastern Portion of the United States for Vera.  Woodrow loved Gus, and we love Vera.

She was respected and beloved by so many people who wanted to say goodbye to her in the proper setting...if it could have been arranged, I think this funeral procession would have also had side trips to Florida, Inland North Carolina, Washington DC, and Japan.  But all goodbyes have to end sometime, and this one ended in Forest, Mississippi, amongst loving family members who have the powerful veil of the McMullan lineage glowing around them, and the spice, vinegar, and Southern love that movies are made of.

Thankfully, when I walked in and saw her at this Funeral Home, I saw that she had fully departed.  She is flying in the stars for real now.

Today it ends.  Tonight she is, as Husband said, "Twangling her toes with my Father again".  She was sent lovingly on her journey with tributes by family members who told stories, prayed beautiful prayers, read from scriptures, and saluted her with the most beautiful floral arrangements I have ever seen. 

Godspeed, Vera.  You were something else.

A Stylish Journey

Vera Idella McMullan Nov. 6, 1920 - June 8, 2011

On the morning of June 8, God thankfully allowed Vera to clock out and head on home to heaven.  One second she was breathing, the next second...she wasn't.  So quiet, so gentle.  I was there soon afterward, as I only live about two miles away.  She was still warm, and still seemed alive, but she was thankfully finished up with earth and already departing.  The family gathered one by one - coming from jobs, schools, meetings, and the other whatnot of life.  

As they arrived, they went immediately to her side and kissed her forehead and smoothed her hair.  She had to have known that even in death, she still had that particular stylish look - that Vera Style - in her black nightie, edged in lace.  

When the Funeral Home arrived to take her away, they had to wait and wait as everyone wanted to touch her and talk to her one more time.  So they finally said, "Just call us when you are ready to let her go", and they left.  The Hospice Nurses finally were allowed to go in and wash her and straighten everything, and still the visits went on.  Finally, almost three hours after she had died, her children let her go.

Immediately, her daughter and granddaughter Tiffany went to her expansive closet and began choosing her outfit.  Less than a minute later, Tiffany swept a purple A-Line Dress with a Cropped Jacket off the rack, and pronounced, "This is the one; this is it!".  It had a Ruched Collar in the same fabric as the dress  - so stylish, so Vera.  It was easy for Deborah, her daughter, to select from the dozens of shoes...cocktail heels that were clear plastic, spangled with tiny rinestones.  Jewelry was selected next, and they were off to the Funeral Home.

Well.  If you could just have seen her last night at the viewing.  She looked fabulous, simply fabulous.  The folks there at Brunswick Funeral Services had styled her hair and makeup from a photo I had emailed to them, and they were spot on.  Her skin was peachy and glowing, the bruises all gone.  Her hair was perfect, styled exactly like she would have done it.  As people passed by the casket, their constant comment was, "What a beautiful woman!".  At 90 years of age, after such a struggle to die, still stylin'.

Vera and her husband Harold.