NORMA LEA’S MEMORIAL SERVICE
Norma Lea’s memorial service was in her church, North New Hope Lutheran Church. The small church filled with family members and friends many of whom had come from the East or West coast. So it was a rare family reunion with Norma Lea bringing her sister’s and brother’s families as well as her own children and their families.
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I videoed the service. And then after the service when everyone gathered in the cemetery across the street I made another video of the people gathered in a circle as the ministers read passages from the Bible and Norma Lea’s ashes were buried with her grandsons shoveling in the earth to fill the hole. After the service most of the people attending the service met in Iola at the Crystal Cafe for a meal together. Although I had trouble sorting out the different family members I realized that family gatherings like this are rare and that it was important to photograph as many people as I could.
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In the evening we met at at Susan, Norma Lea’s daughter, and Tom Nykl’s house that was built on a portion of the 240 acre Larson farm where Norma Lea and Les Larson had lived. Tom Nykl showed us around his place which he has been developing with project after project. Tom has been teaching math and science in various international schools in the Middle East, Istanbul and now in Brindisi, Italy and invites relatives including me, to come and visit which I will very likely do this year.
BILLYBABA’S WANDERING 