Funeral on St. Patrick's for Patrick (Day 3)

March 17, 2012:  I ate breakfast at the hotel because Super 8 does such an outlandish spread for breakfast!  I said goodbye to Sandy and Bernie as they headed off to see her folks. 

I diddled around before finally pointing the car to St John's Abbey.  I arrived late and sat way in the back corner of the large seating area.  Again, the monks had decided to put everyone in the choir so I basically was far behind the celebrants.  One of the Farmers noted that Patrick has the good sense to have his funeral on St. Patrick's day.  

Father J Patrick McDarby OSB, 1927-2012

The celebrants were leading a prayer as I sat.  The emotion of being at a funeral washed over me at that point and the tears started.  Patrick said a mass for Mary during our weekend at St. Johns in the summer of 2010.  Hearing the prayers again, being in that abbey church that Mary loved, and being there because Patrick was gone just hit me like a brick.  

Of course, at the moment I am absolutely in full tear mode, one of the monks approaches me and wants to confirm I am there for Patrick's funeral mass. The tears were flowing profusely as he asked and all I could do was nod my head. He then offers to lead me to the choir area so I can hear the ceremony better.  Still unable to talk, I shake my head no.  With hand signals and a moment or two, I can talk a bit and I told him that Patrick was a favorite of my late wife (a Farmer 68-69) and this was the first funeral I had attended since she died.  As a result, I was having a major emotional meltdown and I'd prefer to simply sit in this far back pew.  He was very gracious and left me alone for the rest of the ceremony. 

The attendees then headed for the cemetery and more prayers and song were done for Patrick.  He was lowered into the ground and we each threw a handful of dirt on the simple pine wood casket.  

I skipped the lunch because I headed to Duluth to visit with Reenie (Mary's sister) and husband, Tom.  We met in Hinkley Minnesota at a place called Tobies.  We had a fine visit, a late lunch and discussed the solution to all the world's problems.  Reenie has had a rough time medically these past few months but she seemed to be in fine condition and was feeling much better.  

I returned to Minneapolis and checked into the Radisson (priceline rocks).  After dumping stuff in my room, I went for a walk up and down Nicollet Mall.  Minneapolis was one of the first cities in the US to take a major street and turn it into a permanent walking mall.  I think it was done in the 60's. The Mary Tyler Moore TV show was 'based' in Minneapolis and it opened with Mary Tyler Moore throwing her hat in the air on the Nicollet Mall. Here is the statue that been put up since that show was done. 

Here is the opening clip from the TV show.  The end of this clip is the moment they are capturing in the statue.  

Mary Tyler Moore Opening Clip

Well, the weather here has been unbelievably warm!  The car thermometer is showing 80, 81, 82 degrees during the day.  Considering that March usually brings a major blizzard--often on St. Pats so its called the St Pat's Blizzard. To have shirt sleeve weather for St Pat's is unheard of.  The mall was full of people and police. I leaned I had just missed the parade, one of the reasons the mall was swarming with people.  After a nice stroll and lots of people watching, I went back to the hotel for a late supper.  Again, a martini to toast Patrick and a brie and spinach salad. It was really good.  

I ate a the bar so I met all sorts of folks.  The most interesting was a St. Ben's grad from the class of 2011.  When I said I was in town for a funeral and the conversation led to "a monk at St John's", she reacted quite strongly.  It turns out she had worked in the monks retirement center while a student. When I showed her his picture, she confirmed that she had known Patrick! Small world!  

Well, I closed the bar at the Radisson. Not hard to do, they only kept it open until midnight. Clearly, it was not party central for St. Pats.  

Ciao, 

p