Today is Easter Sunday.  This morning about 6 I was treated to a wonderful skyscape right before sunrise.  My choice for Easter Sunday is an e-mail received from a LaMoure County ND friend on April 3.  She sent me the below clip from the LaMoure Chronicle, the long-time weekly newspaper for the community of LaMoure and surrounding area.

I’m very familiar with the paper, as my maternal family, the Busch’s, subscribed to the paper for many years.  Each time I looked at the paper, there was always a looking back column, of happenings from a previous time, in this case “10 Years Ago, April 1, 2015”.  This particular snip brought back lots of memories for me, and an idea I want to share with you.

Uncle Vince, age 90, was the last member of the LaMoure County Busch family, whose parents came to break ground in rural Berlin-Grand Rapids in 1905.  Vince was the last survivor of 11 people who lived and/or grew up on the farm.  He died in early February, 2015.  He had designated me to represent him.

The Busch’s were an ordinary rural family.  There had been pretentions of more back in the day, but the Great Depression in particular took its toll.  For Vince and Edithe, brother and sister, and indeed their parents and in a real way their siblings who went on to lives elsewhere, LaMoure County services were crucial components of their personal quality of life their entire life.  For instance, Vince loved to watch the LaMoure American Legion baseball in the summer.  On and on.

He and Edithe were regulars at the Grand Rapids Veterans Memorial Park.  Indeed, their Uncle and Aunt, Art and Lena Parker, were the first caretakers of the Park when it opened after World War I and through the 1920s.

The services were all either free or virtually so.  There was no admission to go to the park.  Nobody charged visitors to go fishing at the James River Dam area, maintained by volunteers.

After Vince died and I was trying to figure out what to do, with first responsibility to pay any bills due by the Busch’s, it occurred to me that there were many bills due, for which bills were never sent to the recipients of the service rendered, so I made a list of the places and services I knew Vince and Edithe supported by their attendance over the years, and from this came a list of, to my recollection, 16 local services, most of whom are listed above.  Also listed was what I decided to do to pay the bill, so to speak, to the providers of the service.

I really didn’t think of this until after Vincent died.  It just hadn’t occurred to me.  Nor had it occurred to him or his sister or his parents.  Of course, it was a bill subject to challenge, but it was also unique, and, long story short, the expenditure was acceptable.

Out of this experience comes a suggestion to everyone who has something to leave behind.  Perhaps you can build a similar list of similar services you’ve utilized in your community.  Consider making a list for whoever it is who will have to close your estate when you pass on, as you certainly will.

Happy Easter.