The Funeral

We buried my Father in St. Patrick's day of 2011. The Viewing and the Funeral were very helpful as far as helping with the mourning. It was great to see family and friends. Some I had not seen in a decade or so. 

Thank you to everyone who participated in some way. From attending to sending your kind thoughts. 

My father was a great man. For those of you who missed the Funeral I will share one last funny story about a great man. 

My Dad loved to go Fishing and he loved to take his kids. 

I remember one of the very first times he took me fishing we went to Scofield Reservoir. Dad had just bought a brand new pole. He told me to stick near my pole in case I got a bite. I was very young at the time and you know how young boys are. I walked around throwing rocks and doing what little boys do. I found myself about 40 yards away from my pole and looking back on where the pole was I could see it bobbing up and down. I yelled for my Dad who was only about 15 feet away from the pole. It did not matter. Just then the pole shot like a lightning bolt into the water. Well my Dad was not about to let the pole he just bought get away. Next thing I know my Dad dives into the icy cold water to grab the pole. He got it! 

He never yelled at me. I still remember that part. And in fact I remember laughing about it with him as he emptied his wallet out onto the rocks to dry everything out. 

My dad and I struggled a bit on the wild. 

One last short story. He took me deer hunting one time and we were walking through the trees. He told me to stand behind him about 20 feet and to the side of him about 10. As we walked through these trees we heard something coming over the hill. He told me to get ready. Just then two doe came flying over the top of the hill at a lightning speed. One was headed right for me and just before it got to me it turned and bound away. The look on my face must have been priceless because as I focused on my father he was laughing so hard he dropped to the ground. He laughed for about 15 minutes...I was still in shock. That was still one of his favorite stories to tell all the way up to the end. 

Dad thank you for the great memories. I love you so much. 

John Ephraim Versluis

My Father passed away this morning at 6:46 AM. He had his son Rob, his daughters Susie and Tahna and his lovely wife by his side when he took his last breath.
Tahna called me immediately after and I got in my pick up and drove to Sandy. When I arrived Tony and Scott had also made it. It was tough to look at pop that way. His mouth was open and his color wasn't natural. (Obviously) I got there around 8AM. Us siblings just sat and talked for a while. It was nice. Some sad moments but there was a sense of peace now that he had passed on and he was no longer in pain. No longer suffering from the tumor that eventually took his life.
The folks from the funeral home arrived around 9. We all wanted to say a prayer before they took him. Rob gave a fantastic and spiritual prayer that we  all needed. It was till hard to see him go. they wrapped him up in a white sheet and put him on a gurney. It really hit me when they covered him in a flag. My father served this country for 8 years. He never fought in any wars but was prepared to do so.
We watched them haul him off and put him in a sweet minivan. I know....It actually broke the tension a little bit. We all laughed about it. One thing we all have from my father. A great sense of humor.
I went home and got with LeAnn and we spoke to each of our kids. Seth being 7 and Ryker being 4 I thought we would see it effect Seth the most. I think Ryker had the saddest face of all our kids. I thought he might cry a little bit. It was tough for me to talk to them just from an emotional point of view. But I believe they understood what had happened. Of course that did not stop them from immediately turning on the Wii.
At 1 we went over to my moms for a pot luck lunch. Now everyone was there. A full house. Great to see everyone and everyone really was in a great mood. I think we all agree dad is in a better place. Really we should be jealous of where he is right now. Looking down on us and smiling. Only now does he realize how many people he effected. How many people loved him. Not only his family but everyone he came in contact with.
The viewing will be this Wednesday at 6 to 8 at Lake Hills Memorial at 10055 South State in Sandy. His funeral is at my moms ward house. I am not sure the address. I think it is the one across from Mount Jordan Middle School. This is on Thursday at 10:00.
Thank you to everyone of my friends who gave me good thoughts and prayers. None of them went unnoticed. All were appreciated.
I have the week to spend with my family. I need it.
There is a new Aaron Lewis song called Country Boy. The one line I love the most. "The greatest thing in life is your friends and family". So true... How would we get by with our them.

John Ephraim Versluis
April 2, 1942 to March 13, 2011

My Dads last moments

I just got back from my parents house. My Dad is still holding on, but it will be any time at this point. I was scheduled to go out with my friend Aaron tonight to do a guy hang out. A much needed Guy hangout. But Rob called me about 3:30 and said that the Death Rattle had started. That is basically where the body starts to give in and is preparing itself to be done. So I waited for LeAnn to get home from work and I headed over. His breathing was awful and very difficult to listen to. It almost sounded painful. We were told he was not in pain. My mom continued to give him Morphine just in case.
Brett and I went to go get some food around 7:30. When we got back everyone was a bit frantic. His breathing had changes substantially and he was bleeding from his mouth. Very difficult site. For the rest of the night we were glued to his bed side. We all felt an obligation to be by his side as he passed. This was not to be. Eventually my mother asked us to leave him and allow him to have some peace. Scott left, the gals were headed downstairs so I decided to leave. I know they will call me if things change.
I was supposed to fly out to Phoenix tomorrow but felt I needed to stay with my family. So I had to arrange for a Co-Worker to take my place. Thanks Jody for stepping up.
It is time to go Dad. We will miss you but there is no reason to hold on any longer.
Love you pop.

My Dad part II

It has now been a week from my last post. I am not sure if it has sunk in or not. On my last post I had mentioned that I was on my way to California. I felt inclined to write a little something about my Father while I was on the plane. Just a few words I think I may use at his funeral. I realize there will not be a lot of time because so many people will want to say something. I got some peace in writing it. Not sure why. I know it is still going to be a tough situation when it arrives.
When I got back on Friday it was nice to go to my parents house and see the entire family.
I always enjoy my time with Rob. I wish I could see him more. My kids were so excited to see him too. That is all they spoke of on the drive from T-Ville to Sandy.
My Father has a friend he met while working at the DI. He sings Elvis songs, which my father is a huge fan of if you didn't know.
A majority of the time we were there my Dad slept and was non-responsive. However when "Elvis" sang my Dad put his air guitar up and mouthed the words. It was a really great experience.
Gave us all a little joy at least for the moment.
I still love seeing my kids give Grandpa kisses. Every time we leave Kamryn keeps saying "Grandpa's tummy hurts, and he is sick". It is sad that her and Natalie will never really know there Grandpa John. 68 is too young.
All us siblings met at again last night at my parents house. What a weird meeting.
As we all sat in my Mothers room discussing my Dads funeral arrangements, my Dad laying in the other room watching old reruns of All in the family. (I hate that show).
It was just a really odd situation. Because at times he seems to be just fine.
I have not heard him speak really the last couple times I have been at his house.
He is there, but I miss him. It is not really how I want to remember him.
I joked a lot at the meeting. Sorry to my siblings. That was probably how I was dealing with the uncomfortable situation.
Tahna called me today to tell me Dad was no responsive for most of the day. Trying to wake him up or give him his meds was not happening.
Too many things going on right now this at the top of the list. Life sure can be frustrating.
Lucky my father was is a good man and taught me that all things happen for a reason. Sure it is tough. And I realize I have taken a lot of frustrations out on my family. LeAnn has been very patient with me. I can only assume I will be a stronger person for it.
I guess only time will tell.

Visiting Pop with the whole family.

I woke up this morning in a little bit better mood. The good wishes from friends and family alike really do work. They are all appreciated and they do not go unnoticed. Not one. So thank you all. As usual we were running a little late. I had told my mother that we would be there about ten or eleven. We rolled up at noon. Dad looked great. Much better then he did in the hospital. He was eating sticky fingers courtesy of Tahna. I was not only jealous but happy to see he was able to do so. In the hospital they were not even sure of that.
Now the hospice gal told use he would have good days and we would wonder if we made the right choice on not operating but I didn't know it would be the first day!
He really looked good. He looked tired and could move nothing but his head and arm but he acknowledged the kids and did his usual baby talk to Nat to make her squeal.
We left at 2:30 to get me to the airport. I write this from the droid waiting to get on a plane to Ontario. The visit made it a lot easier to leave for a couple of days.
Rob and I originally planned dinner for Thursday but he is flying to SL tomorrow morning. It will be nice to see him.
It was also nice to see Jordan and his family. I was glad to hear they got here with minimal issues.

My Dad

I decided to start my own Blog on my thoughts and feelings.
Of course I need to start with what is going on with my Father.
Sunday Morning I got a call from my Sister susie said that my Dad was on the way to the hospital. He had fell on Saturday and had been acting a little odd the last few days.
When he fell he hit his head on the cold air return and really caused a gash in his head. At that moment they were not sure if he just tripped or passed out or what.
When they got him to the hospital they had a cat scan done and the first thing my family was told was that he had had another stroke. Not good...
They wanted to confirm this with an MRI but were unable to because he was not stable. He kept throwing up and was all around not good.
LeAnn and I went to go visit him on Sunday February 27th. We asked our babysitter Lyndsey to watch our kids since the kids are not allowed in the hospital. She took them to the Cafeteria and got them some food while we went up to see Grandpa.
First however we were lucky enough to go see LeAnn's Brothers new born child. Bryce and Trudy had their first baby girl Haley. She is a cutie and we are so glad they are all doing well.
It was one of those two birds with one stone kind of thing. We saw the baby then walked over to the ICU to see my Father.
He seemed okay. He said hello when we arrived, held my hand and was I believe aware that we were there. He said I love you when we left and I did think he knew we were there.
We would have stayed longer but LeAnn had to work.
Monday I went to go and see him at Lunch time. He again seemed like he was in good spirits and happy to have guests. At this time they had a chance to do the MRI and found that my dad actually had a tumor in his brain. They are speculating that this was what caused his stroke 16 months ago. They were unable to see it then because of all the blood that was present when they did the MRI way back then.
Now they say the tumor is about the size of a tennis ball. It is operable but we as a family believe that my father would not want that. We all met on Monday night and agreed that we would not have the operation done. It was a tough choice. An operation would only extend his life 3 to 6 months and he would not have even the quality of life he had a month ago when we was still struggling and sad with his original stroke.
Conveniently my Mother finally got his living will finished only days before this happened. A little bit of revelation I believe.
Today is Tuesday the 1st of March. I felt inclined to head over to the Hospital early this morning. I found my Mother and sister Tahna talking to the Hospice lady. She was explaining the procedure. My Mother wanted my Dad to come home as soon as possible so I took the remainder of today off and went over to my Mothers to move some furniture around to accommodate a hospital bed. We got that all sorted out and I went home.
I got home to LeAnn getting ready for work. We spoke briefly on what we should do. We decided that we would leave the kids home the next morning and go spend the afternoon with my Dad. We decided that we would tell the kids what is going on in the morning.
At dinner Seth asked my about Grandpa so I did not have the heart to hold him off. So I told him what was going on. I explained everything.
I could tell that Seth was sad about it but the other two I was not sure. Kamryn just kept repeating what I was saying along with a few mixed words of her own.
Of course she got most of it right and she just kept saying "Grandpa is dying, he is dead". I though wow,  lets not repeat that tomorrow while we are there. Maybe she was a little young to be in the room during the conversation.
The one I was most worried about is Ryker. Would he understand what is going on? He is 4 but smart as  a whip. Tonight was bath night and I asked him what he was feeling about Grandpa. He told me sadness. He hesitated then said, but I don't think I am as sad as you. I asked him why he would think that. He said, because he is your Dad. A pure example of how smart kids truly are.
I decided to ask the same think to Seth and he also said he was sad about Grandpa and said he would miss him.. He then asked if they could still visit Grandma when he was gone. I told them absolutely. She would love that.
So that is that. My first Blog ever. I hope that it wont be just a thing I do until my Father passes but that I can use it to then and beyond.
Good night everyone.