My uncle's ashes were buried in this churchyard on Sunday afternoon.
There were about 300 people in attendance at the church, but only about 50 went to see his ashes buried.
Despite the snow, the ground was not frozen so it was easy for the gravedigger to create and fill the hole.
The graveyard scene was quite Gothic. The church bells were ringing during the ceremony.
His ashes were kept in a wooden box made for my late grandmother by a boyfriend and then poured into a hole in the rose garden.
The rose garden is surrounded by a circular hedge. My uncle's name will be inscribed into a concrete bench encircling part of the garden.
STRATFORD WITHOUT UNCLE WALTER
Arriving at the Stratford, Ont. train station on Saturday, the day before the funeral, was strange. My uncle always met visitors at the station and this time he wasn't there. The last time I visited was in the summer.
My uncle lined up these animal crackers one day to feed to his dog Ruffles.
Then he fed them to her one by one.
My uncle was a very intelligent, kind and generous man. He was a retired school teacher who had taught mainly disabled students. He was involved in a wide variety of community projects. He volunteered at the Stratford Festival by giving backstage and warehouse tours. He delivered meals on wheels. He taught disabled people on a voluntary basis.
He was passionate about Shakespeare and his seasoned criticism of the Stratford Festival productions was very reliable.
He sang in the Stratford Concert Choir and toured and sang at cathedrals in England and Europe with the group.
When I last visited my uncle and aunt in August, I was planning a trip to England. My uncle loved England and taught there in the 1960s. He made many visits over the years--the last one this spring. He showed me the scrapbook he'd put together about his trip and I asked him which place in England was his favourite. He told me it was Exeter. I visited Exeter and its cathedral in October.
When I was there, I took a one-hour guided tour of the cathedral. I chatted with the tour guide and she remembered that the Stratford choir had sung there.
She took me outside to show me the Ontario Heritage Foundation commemorative plaque for John Graves Simcoe, first lieutenant governor of Ontario, after I expressed surprise at seeing a memorial to him inside the cathedral.
Although I didn't see my uncle again after I returned from England, I was able to tell him about my trip during a telephone conversation ~
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