January 4th 2015 Our Uncle Eldon Garner Passed Away

Uncle Eldon Garner was the husband of my Aunt Marie Garner.  What I remember about him is that he took wonderful care of Grandma Darley.  Anything that she needed he would be right there for her.  She had no children living close by except for her daughter Marie.  He became very dear to her. When I told my brothers and sisters about Uncle Eldon's death all of them said they really didn't know him.  He was quiet and stood to the back of a crowd.  He had a big laugh.  He was also very considerate to me.

I spent a lot of time during the summer in Rupert with Eldon's daughter Diane.  Most of the time Diane would be dropped off by her mother Aunt Marie. On rare occasions I would go to there house.  Diane loved to have a good time.  She spent a lot of time at the swimming pool.  I went with her several times but on one occasion she taught me how to tread water.   I always stayed in the more shallow part of the pool.  I realized that I could do this quite well.  I got very brave and went into the deep area.  I felt pretty safe as long as I was close to the edge.  Diane encouraged me to go off the diving board.  I couldn't believe that I was actually going to do this.  She assured me that it was just a short distance from the diving board to the edge.  I went for it.  So far it was pretty cool.  Once I came up from under the water I must have panicked.  It was hard for me to catch my breath.  I struggled to get to the side.  The lifeguard was very concerned and wanted me to stay in the more shallow water.  

Uncle Eldon bought a ticket for me to go with his family to a rodeo that they had each year around the 4th of July.  It was fun to experience this new adventure.  I loved the clowns.  We sat pretty close to the front and I enjoyed watching their antics.

I was grateful that Doug and I were able to go to Uncle Eldon's funeral.  I wasn't able to go to Aunt Marie's funeral.  She passed away when we lived in California.  I really got to know this uncle and the amazing person that he is.  

It was great to see all of Aunt Marie's children.  They had four children.  Joyce is their oldest.  She is close to the same age as my brother Larry. They have a son Jerry who was Cathy's age and Diane who was about 9 months younger than I am.  Connie was the youngest.  She was around Sherry's age.  She lives in California.  It was fun to visit with her and get to know her children better.  The Darley's do not have many get together's so this was a rare opportunity to reconnect with them.

 Aunt Marie, Joyce, and Diane were in a bad car accident.  The person in the other car was driving drunk.  He ran a red light and plowed into them.  Joyce was pronounced dead and so was Diane. They placed sheets on them while they waited for ambulance to take them away.  Diane's grandfather on the Garner side saw the sheet move that was over Diane.  She was really alive.  Diane and her mother was hurt pretty badly.  Aunt Marie's back was never the same.  Diane's ability to reason was some what impaired. Those things never kept them from enjoying life.  Aunt Marie was a social butterfly.  Diane was adventurous and fun to be with.

Some of my Hunsaker cousins were at the funeral.  They grew up with the Garner's.  It was fun to visit with them also.