Three Beautiful Things 05-27-2023: Barbara Absec's Funeral, Quite a Kellogg History, Spontaneous Family Get Together

1. Carol, Christy, and I piled into the Camry and blasted up to St. Rita's Catholic Church and met Stu for a funeral mass to pay our respects to Barbara Absec. She lived in our neighborhood for over sixty years and her two older sons, Terry and Mark, were daily playmates of mine growing up. I don't see Mark as much these days as Terry.  Terry is a charter member of the Hall of Fame of Great Guys, a group of us Kellogg men who used to get together in Don Knott's back yard for some adult beverages and food before Don moved to Lewiston. 

2. It was great to see neighbors who lived near us when our family moved, in 1962, to the house Debbie and I live in now. I talked with three of the Morgans, Gary, Jim, and Marcia (Jacobs). I conversed with two of the Faraca boys, Pat and Jay. Terry Douglas was at the service as was, I heard Christy say, at least one of the Higbees. Mark Absec graduated in 1975 and I talked with at least two of his classmates, Buff Mercado and Pete Miller (who is also related, I think, to the Absecs). I enjoyed seeing Marthanne Worley, a 1972 Wallace High graduate, and we had a great talk about mutual friends from Wallace and Kellogg and caught each other up on what we've been up to for the last forty years or so! 

I either saw across the room or talked up close with people from a wide variety of aspects of my life in Kellogg and the Silver Valley. I enjoyed the experience of having many parts of my life and my history in Kellogg flash before my eyes, especially boyhood memories of playing in the park, playing sandlot as well as organized baseball, and growing up in such a fun and energetic neighborhood. 

3. Back home, Paul helped Debbie put together some patio furniture and then Carol and Paul joined Debbie and me for dinner. We enjoyed a Korean chicken salad Debbie made. Later, Christy joined us and over the course of the late afternoon and early evening we talked about churches, communion, the neighborhood, the history of St. Rita's Catholic Church, and a variety of other things. It was almost like we were having a dress rehearsal for Monday's family dinner! It was fun to have this get together spring up spontaneously and to have plenty to yak about.