Mary Ann's Funeral and Family Togetherness

Mary Ann Homer Schill's Funeral   March 30, 2015

Mike and his children appreciated all the love and support of family and friends.

Lambs and their symbolism were special to Mary Ann so it is nice that the painting of Christ holding a lamb is in the background of this photo.

Brent and Heather Nielsen drove from their home in New Jersey to attend Mary Ann's funeral. It was wonderful to see them and feel of their love. As Jo was growing up she though it was great to have a cousin, Brent, her same age.                                                                        

A former youth in the young men's program in Mike's ward became a local policeman and arranged to have a police
escort lead the procession to the cemetery. The officers were very professional and at  different intersections one of the group would stop to direct traffic as the rest kept leading the procession .                                                                     

Mary Ann's gravesite is in a small hill top cemetery named Sandridge. It is a beautiful peaceful place near where Mike and his family live.                                                                                        

             

                                                                         

Jared Carter, Stuart Schill, Matthew Zalar and Zachary Zalar sang a beautiful song,"Lord Accept into thy Kingdom."                                                                                                              

Mike told some unique stories about Mary Ann before dedicating the grave.

                       Ryan Quinn, a former home teacher of the Schill family and a good friend, talks to Erin and Stuart and gives Mike a big hug.

                                                                               

                                                                   The Homer Family
                                                                         

                                                  Mary Ann's Six Sisters and One Brother

                                                                       
 

                                                                   The Schill Family
                                                                           
                         

                                                                             

                                                     
                                                                             

                                        The Schills giving a traditional Gramps' good-bye.

                                                           
                                                 

                                                                     Julie and Brinnan

Aimee and Stuart

                                                            Aubree and Campbelle

                                                                      

                                                                         Luncheon

                        The wonderful sisters of the Relief Society provided an amazing array of                                        delicious food for the luncheon after the funeral.                                      

Mary Ann was know for her wonderful salads so it was great to have so many salads at the luncheon.

 Yummy Desserts

 Karen, Mary Ann's sister(in the pink) looks a lot like Mary Ann. She and her husband(standing) are serving a mission in Arizona on a Navajo reservation. They got permission from their mission president to come to the funeral. Mike has his arm around Mary Ann's youngest sister, Lori. Karen's son is at the table with his two children.

After the funeral,  family members planted some Jonquilles/Daffodils in      
Mike's yard. They are Mary Ann's favorite flower.
         

                          It will be a beautiful sight when all the planted Jonquilles bloom.

                Family on the bridge that spans the Moormans River in front of Mike's house.

Family enjoying being together in the Virginia Schill's kitchen.

Breakfast at the Green House Coffee  Restaurant in Crozet.

                                     

                                                                             

                  Rob, Missy, Steve, Jen, Aubree, Brinnan, Cambelle, Jeff and                                                                 Ashley are leaving for the airport to fly home. Lot os hugs as they
                  say good-bye.

                The Virginia Schill Home is located in Sugar Hollow Canyon.  Stuart and Aimee                                          were baptized in Moormans River that runs through their property.

Mike is building stairs out of rocks from different places that have special meaning. For example part of the stairs is a brick from Mary Ann's high school and  one is from Mike's high school. These bricks were obtained when these schools were torn down.

                                                                                                                                                     

                                                                           

                                           Mike is explaining the stories behind each stone.

Aimee is collecting all the Easter eggs that their ward members  put around the yard. In these eggs their ward family  had written about experiences and memories that they had had with Mary Ann                                                                           

Erin driving Julie across the river, Moormans River, that goes through Mike's property.

It was a thrilling experience for Julie.

The Virginia Schills have a tradition of doing a high kick dance whenever visitors leave. Since dad and I were leaving to drive to the Dulles airport, it was fun to see the Schills plus Julie and Jo performing for us. Mary Ann loved to join in on this tradition and would want her family to continue doing it.

Saying goody-bye the way Gramps used to do it. The Virginia Schills always do it this way by wiggling their fingers.

Julie was brave enough to go on the Chicken Swing in Mike's yard.

Jo was the last of the family to return home. We felt a lot of love and support during those days together. Families are such a precious blessing.

Mary Ann's  Testimony

I had to take pictures of the testimony in order to put it on the blog. Rob, you probably know a better way to post it.

Visit to the Virginia Schills- February 2015 

Dad and I had a wonderful time visiting Mike, Mary Ann, Stuart and Aimee in February. The weather was cold and snowy. School was cancelled so we were blessed to have Aimee and Stuart around the house during the day.                                                                                                         

Aimee found a big sheet of ice. 

The Beautiful Pattern in the Sheet of Ice

The Moormans River froze over because it was so cold. With snow on both sides and ice on the river it was like a Disneyland ride when Mike drove us across the river. He didn't want us to have to walk across the bridge to get to the house.

The fire in the fire place kept us nice and warm even though the cold temperatures outside were breaking 100 year old records. Some trees close to their home had been cut down because of threat of falling on the house provided us with plenty of firewood. Aimee and Stuart did a great job of keeping the fire burning.

                          We had a fun time watching the birds eat seeds on the deck and from the hanging bird feeder.

We enjoyed Fat Jacks for one of our dinners.

While we were there, a package came from Emily. This painting was one of the gifts she sent.

Hot pad mitten with the traditional Portugal cock on the front and a missionary name tag for Aimee also came in Emily's gift package.

Stuart did a great job on his school project about the Holocaust. 

We were all singing out loudly the song "Charlie on the MTA" while Aimee was playing it on her guitar and Stuart on the ukulele.  

We went out to one of Mary Ann's favorite Turkish Restaurant . 

Mike helped us get loaded up just before we left to drive back to Houston. We had a wonderful visit with Mike, Mary Ann, Stuart and Aimee.