On Monday, my daughter, Diane, accompanied me on a train trip to New Bedford to pay our respects to my uncle, brother, friend and hero, Allen T. Vaughan, Sr.
Although it was a sad time, we had an enjoyable trip on Amtrak to Providence, RI, where I walked the half-mile downhill to the Avis Rental office. I drove back in some kind of Japanese car (not Toyota like mine) and picked up Diane, carefully avoiding all the problem areas there are for motorists in Providence, and we zoomed to North Dartmouth, MA, to a new Best Western motel. Although new, it only rated 2 stars on the internet. But it was relatively clean and kind of quiet when you left the AC fan on.
We drove to the Saunders Funeral Home in New Bedford, for Uncle Allen's "viewing".. I hate that usage.. people do come to "view" the person who has passed on, but I like to think that they are really "paying their respects" to the family of the deceased and to the memory of the person who no longer is with us bodily.
Allen looked very peaceful and not at all "ravaged" by the ordeal of the last few weeks. Allen was 89 years old, but looked a lot younger.
At the funeral home, we paid our respects to Aunt Doris and the whole family that came into existence because of the marriage of Allen and Doris 64 years ago. A beautiful family.
Several of my cousins showed up, all of the aunts and uncles are gone now. Almost all of the Vaughan cousins are still alive. I think only one has passed away, but I could be wrong about that. We talked a lot and laughed a lot, and that would have been the way Allen would have wanted it.
Aunt Doris asked me to deliver the eulogy at the mass the next morning, so I pumped some of the cousins for stories about Allen, and they had some good ones that even Aunt Doris had not heard about. I had some stories myself to tell.
The next morning, we met at Saunder again. (Incidentally, the Saunders undertakers knew the Vaughan family very well, and even have a framed copy of one of the Vaughan Funeral Parlor bills from 1909. The cost of an average funeral at that time was $66. Times certainly have changed.)
We were asked to provide a ride for Aunt Doris' brother, Freddie Mulcairns. Fred is now 94, and his family did not want him to have to drive for long distances. Fred has good hearing and eyesight and has never had an accident in 78 years of driving! (Fred had lots of great stories to tell us on the trip to the church and again to the military cemetary.)
We attended a mass (Allen was a convert to Catholicism) and I had my chance to deliver the eulogy. I give a lot of eulogies here in Maryland because I am involved with so many senior citizen groups and I usually do not break up. This time I did.
Small world? During the eulogy, I mentioned how Allen had interacted with people here during a trip to Baltimore. After the service, the priest talked to me about Hausners and Peabody's Book Store. He said he spent a happy 6 years in Baltimore while he learned to become a priest.
After the mass, we were treated to lunch at the Century House, a nice catering place in Acushnet. After eating, I was given an opportunity to speak again and tell the "rest of the story"... those happenings that I didn't have time to cover earlier at the church. (I will write up my remarks on another blog entry so that my other children who couldn't go to the funeral will be able to read them. They also loved Uncle Allen.)
We traveled to Cape Cod, to the Bourne Military Cemetery, where a full military service was held for Allen, who served in World War II.
After all this, we had supper at Davy Jones Locker in New Bedford. Then we retired early so that we could get an early morning start the next day.
Unfortunately, our early start was not early enough. We got caught in a massive traffic jam going into Providence and almost missed the train. We left the car off at Avis and had to run the half mile (uphill) to the train station. We made it by just a few minutes.
The train ride back was pleasant and Emily and Lily met us at the train station and gave us a ride to our homes.
All in all, it was a sad, but pleasant, trip. I was very pleased that my daughter, Diane, was able to accompany me.
Farewell, Uncle, Brother, Friend, and Hero: Allen T. Vaughan, SR.
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