JOHNNY, WE HARDLY KNEW YE.........THE FUNERAL OF JOHN SANCHEZ The funeral card from the multiple ceremonies held for this Santa Fe native son.......
(To enlarge photo,click on it and then back arrow back to the blog.)

Today we are attending the funeral Mass and internment ceremonies. I am not sure what your opinion is of taking photos at solemn events, but for friends who could not attend, this might be a way of sharing John's Farewell...............

Giano has known John since he was a baby (Giano, not John) and knows just what a "character" John was...............................

Danny and Artie have known John for over a hundred years between them, and have helped John move residences innumerable times. Now, serving a pall bearers with other relatives and friends that were close to John, they are "moving" him for the last time............

And on they go up the hill to the Committal Shelter at the National Cemetery..............

Where the final goodbyes will be given.................

The ceremony begins................

The flag that drapes John's casket, as a U.S.Veteran, is lifted................

And folded in the traditional ceremony that John, as a Boy Scout Leader, must have taught his Scouts all those many years ago. In fact, a couple of his pall bearers are former members of his troop............

The representative of the U.S. Navy presents the flag to John's sisters and nieces............

Time for a few final private thoughts.........John wanted a plain pine casket and loved ones wrote him personal notes right on the casket...................

John's brother Dave, who was with him when he died, places his boutonniere on the coffin.............

As does Danny and the others................

United as brothers in bereavement, John's circle of family and friends hold each other up in the face of staggering loss.............

And leave him in the serenity of the National Cemetery................

At home, we are heartened by the delivery of flowers from Binky for my birthday..............

In the joy of their beauty......................

We are reminded that this beautiful world of ours does go on..............

Farewell to John--He will be missed....................