Good Morning Everyone!

I wanted to send out one last journal update detailing the memorial service for those of you who were unable to attend. For those of you in attendance I hope you enjoyed the service, felt the presence of the Lord, and we thank you for your show of support.

Mike’s memorial was held last Saturday, May 31^st, at four in the afternoon. With more than five hundred people in attendance the service began with the processional of the family led by the Staff Sergeant (SSgt) of the army Honor Guard, to a flutist playing “Amazing Grace”. We were led to our seats through an isle of six other Honor Guard members whose heads were bowed in honor of their fallen comrade, Cpt. Mike Sinclair, and in support of his family. We were prepared to be led to our seats by the SSgt, but were unaware of the other members. It took all of us by surprise and the tears started falling before we even made it down the isle. It was an awesome show of respect and gratitude for Dad. (It makes me cry just sitting here writing about it!).

The service continued with a prayer led by Mike’s youngest son Ross Sinclair, scripture readings by Mike’s daughters Meila Fluno and Renatta Welsh, and the song “It is Well with my Soul” sung by a friend. Mike’s oldest son, Grant Sinclair, then gave the eulogy. The eulogy was a wonderful memoir of Mike’s life. Grant gave an emotional, yet funny, overview of Dad’s life starting with his high school sports career, his college ROTC program, his Army career, and his devotion to Cowboy Action Shooting. Through the entire eulogy Grant made references to the life lessons Mike Sinclair learned along the way, and how those life lesson impacted his role as Father and Husband. Grant ended by describing the lessons we, his children, learned in our lives from Dad in his quiet, action- led example of how to be a man, how to love a family, and how to love the Lord. We, his children, are truly blessed to have been Mike’s children. As sad as we all are that he will not be around to share in the lives of our children, he left a great legacy in us to pass on.

Mark Harris, aka Parson, then led a short service passing along the message of salvation that Mike so desperately wanted his friends to hear. It was an amazing message of the love that Christ has for us and the promise of heaven that Dad is enjoying right now! The service then went on with an open microphone format for friends and family of Mike’s to share their personal stories. Before Pastor Mark could even finish his instruction of the open mic format there was already a line of men waiting to share about Dad. Wow! These men shared about Dad’s devotion to family and friends, honor, fairness, discernment, and integrity. We were in tears at the awesome words Dad’s friends were saying about him, and at the widespread impact Ole Dead Eye had on so many lives.

The service then ended with the Army Honor Guard doing a 21 gun salute (7 guns, 3 shots) on the grounds of the church. From where the family was sitting we could see the Honor Guard shoot, and the rifle formation they made that represents a fallen comrade. They then marched into the church for the flag presentation ceremony. They took the folded flag that was at the front of the church (it would have been draped over the casket if there had been one), unfolded the flag, then refolded it, and presented it to Gail in honor of Mike. There was absolute silence in the church for 10 minutes or so during this presentation and it was absolutely amazing! A bugler then played Taps and that too was amazing. I, of course, took pictures, and figured that even if anyone at the service thought it was tactless, I learned how to take pictures from my Dad and he would have understood. The Honor Guard was an amazing display of honor, gratitude, and respect for Dad, and we are so glad we decided to have that at the service. Mom had originally decided to only have Taps played, not to have the gun salute or the flag presentation since the Army was not Dad’s main focus. However when making the arrangements with the Army officer he asked about the gun salute and flag and Mom told him no. He then respectfully said “Ma'am, your husband was a decorated, retired Army Captain, he deserves this!” Of course, we agreed with him!

We were then led out of the church to the reception area where we were greeted with a spread of food (thank you ladies for doing such a marvelous job on this!). We had pictures spanning Dad’s life set up on a table for people to look at, and a guest book to sign. We talked, cried, laughed, and hugged for nearly 3 hours. The outpouring of support and love was amazing. Some of Dad’s cowboy friends even came in full cowboy garb which was amazing. Thank you to those of you who came for the love you showed to Mom and the rest of us. Thank you for the friends you have been to Dad over the last 63 years. To those of you unable to attend, thank you for the support you gave us in prayers, phone calls, letters, and love. I hope you are able to feel apart of the service from reading this journal entry. I’ve also posted some of the pictures I took at the service. Please take a look. There are pictures of the Honor Guard and pictures of the pictures we had set up spanning Dad’s life. I also included a picture of the display that was set up at the front of the church of Dad, a flower spray, and a cowboy hat made of flowers to look like Dad’s cowboy hat that was sent by Dad’s shooting club “Los Vaqueros”.

The last few things I want to leave you with is Grant’s Eulogy and a link the Tucson newspaper. I’ve actually posted a copy of the Eulogy in a separate journal entry (which is the reason you received two update notifications), and I’ve clearly marked it “Eulogy”. You will have to go to the “journal” section of this website to find it.

Also, today (June 6^th) in the Tucson Arizona Daily Star a reporter, who writes stories of influential people in Tucson, chose Dad as her subject for today. She wrote a great story about Dad, and included a picture in the paper, on the front page of the Tucson and Region section. The story is also on line with more pictures and information about Dad’s club and other shooting clubs in Tucson and Arizona for anyone interested in pursuing Cowboy Action Shooting. Please take a look.

http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/fromcomments/242508.php

As I sign off for the last time, I want to thank you for the outpouring of love and support you’ve given our family, and especially my mom and dad during these last few months. It has been an honor for me to be able to keep all of you in the loop concerning Dad, and give you a glimpse into the life of Dad. Living in Kansas I felt as if I was unable to do much of anything to support my parents, and so decided to keep this website up to date. In doing so, I’ve prayed that this journal would touch lives. Not just with sweet love stories, or with stories of courage and battles with cancer, or with stories of life, family, and respect. I wanted this journal to touch the readers’ lives for Christ. I want you all to know the great love I have for Christ, and the great love my family has for Christ. I want you to know the promise that God gives us for eternal life with him in Heaven. I pray that those of you who know the Lord have been encouraged and have grown in your faith. And for those of you who don’t know the Lord, I pray you have felt a stirring in your heart to seek the Lord and grow to know him. The hope we have in Christ Jesus, and the promise of the life we have in Heaven for eternity is what has given our family the ability to continue on and not be completely engulfed in grief during this time. I pray that you can come to know this peace and hope as well.

May God bless you.

And again, thank you.

Renatta