Saturday March 7 - Today was Sandy's funeral at St. Patrick Catholic Church. She always wanted a Catholic funeral and today was the most beautiful funeral I have ever attended. Catholic funerals are beautiful liturgies that help us grieve but also lift us up with hope of a future life with Jesus.

It was a warm early spring-like day. It was held at her favorite church - St. Patrick's in Downtown St Charles. Six priests were in attendance - Msgr Dan Deutsch (presider), Msgr Steve Knox (former pastor), Msgr Joe Linster (former pastor), Fr Carl Beekman (former associate who married Rick and Emma), Fr Robert Gonnella (associate), Fr John Kladdar (associate). We had beautiful music from the choir and especially Katie Speiden who sang Sandy's favorite Ave Maria so beautifully. Msgr Deutsch gave a wonderful homily on Mike and Sandy's marriage and our hopeful expectation that Sandy is in heaven. Mike gave a loving eulogy that incorporated a story called The Miners Fingers in which Sandy is compared to a gold nugget plucked by God into the Refiner's Fire so she could adorn the face of Jesus. 

There were many well-wishers from our St Patrick community, friends and our places of work. It was overwhelming to see the number of people who came to the funeral to express their love for Sandy and our family. 

We processed to the cemetery for the burial. It was heartwarming to see the number of people who made that trip to pay their final respects to Sandy.

We concluded the day with a fun party at the St Charles Country Club to celebrate Sandy's life. Many people raised their glass in a toast to Sandy telling humorous but respectful stories.

Now Sandy's life and burial are over and we the family try to resume life under a new normalcy. Please continue to pray for our family as we try to fill the gaping hole in our lives. God bless you all and thanks for reading these posts.

I conclude with a link to a 2 minute video taken at the 100-year Standard Electric anniversary party last year at Summerfest with Lisa, David and Kim. It was probably the last time Sandy felt good enough to go out and party. The whole family thought it captured her personality perfectly and we would like to share it with you. So turn up the volume on your speakers