Helen

Tuesday, May 28, Day 36

We are leaving early this morning to go back to North East Maryland.  We want to meet our tenant and take some pictures of repairs that need to be made, and then meet John's sister Susan. Tomorrow we will inter Aunt Helen's ashes.   Helen was actually a first cousin once removed, but the generational differences made it seem like "Aunt" was a more appropriate title.  Susan was her godchild, and since Helen never had any children, they were very close.  Susan took care of her in Helen's later years, and has made all of the arrangements for her burial.

Since we are leaving the camper behind, and staying in a motel tonight, John wrote this note to himself to make sure we have the most important part of this journey -- Helen's ashes. 

When we caught up with Susan at the hotel, we went out to dinner at Woody's, a North East favorite place, ranked by none other than Jimmy Buffet as one of the best crab places in the country.   We had many a great meal there with our North East and Childs relatives, Aunt Lida and Esther Perkins. Aunt Emily and Aunt Helen were there too.

We started off with a bucket of steamer clams, and Susan, not wanting to miss any of the flavor of the meal, drank the broth that was left.  They don't have these kind of meals in Houston, or San diego for that matter!

Our relatives from Virginia, Stanley Avery, Ann Bunn Avery, and her son, Sam Avery came in late that night.  Both Stanley and Ann knocked on Susan's door  and Ann and Susan visited.  They had never met before, but had had many a telephone conversation.


Wednesday, May 29, Day 37.

Susan has buckled Aunt Helen's ashes in the front seat.  Apparently they had a joke about Helen being buckled in, so Susan is giving her one last safe ride.

We had a caravan of three cars , with Susan leading the way through the back country roads to the Leeds Cemetery, a privately owned cemetery where quite a few Blake relatives are buried. We passed the land that the original Blake's had owned in the area.

Susan gave us a little bit of history of those who are buried here and how she  and Helen decided Helen would be buried here, near her parents.  Her original idea was for her ashes to be scattered at the Philadelphia  Zoo, near the Gorilla cage.  She was active in the AARP and had organized a committee  to benefit the Zoo.   Wanting to be near the Gorilla cage reflected her great sense of humor.

Ann Bunn Avery, Sam Avery, John Blake, Stanley Avery, Susan Blake Byrne.

Dixie Blake, Sam Avery, John Blake, Susan Blake Byrne, Stanley Avery

There was no service per se, although Susan read a beautiful poem she  had selected, "The Song of the River" by William Randolph Hearst.

John and Stanley look over the many graves of their ancestors.

John and Susan bid a last goodbye to Aunt Helen Muir Kier Barcalow.

Susan had made reservations at the favorite place  where Helen and Aunt Emily liked to eat when Susan brought Helen down to Rising Sun Maryland to visit. 

We had a wonderful meal together, lasting about three hours, until it was time for everyone to leave, Susan to visit a friend for the weekend, the Avery's to return to Norfolk, and  John and I to head back to Uncle Bill's







This beautiful evening sun was still gracing the field when we got back to Bill's, a perfectly tranquil ending to a day devoted to a great lady.