Chester thought that Christmas 2020 was an especially great Christmas because everyone was home. Little did he realize that the main reason someone was always around the house was because 2020 ended up being the year of Covid. That said, our family's Christmas this year was not unlike previous years because we have historically traveled over Thanksgiving when roads are better, and schedules aren't so busy. In all, we had a great Christmas with just our great family.
Our wonderful, 2020 Christmas tree. Lisa thought it was the best tree we've ever had, but she says that every year. It was a great tree and many thanks goes to the great tree lot here in Carson City operated by the local Fellowship of Christian Athletes chapter.
One of the gifts that Bob gave to Lisa was this simple nativity scene for our front yard. It looks great.
Another fun family gift this year was the game "Pandemic". Very fun and very appropriate for 2020.
Caleb is a Dungeons and Dragons fan and received a number of supplies for painting miniatures.
Christmas is Hannah's favorite Holiday and Chester was more than happy to help her with gift opening.
Lisa opening her "Big" present. It was a kayak cart to help her get her boat from the car to the lake next summer. Lisa loves sneaking off to Lake Tahoe to enjoy the beaches and paddling around on the beautiful blue water.
Bob scoring a very nice collection of red wines.
Sometime mid-October when Bob was having a conversation with his Dad, he was complaining about a cold that wouldn’t go away. So, Bob encouraged him to have a Covid test which came back positive. He was initially doing fine, but then took a turn for the worse and ended up in the hospital. After a couple of anxious days, he seemed to be getting better and was sent home on oxygen. Two days later, however, he began to have real trouble breathing and was put back in the hospital and on a ventilator. He continued to deteriorate and on October 27th, Herb passed into eternity.
Losing Dad has been hard for all of us, but especially Bob's Mom. They had just celebrated their 64th wedding anniversary on October 12th and were partners in the truest sense. Mom had also contracted Covid and spent six days in the hospital herself. While sick, the loss of Dad was more surreal, but now that she has physically recovered, she now finds herself on the long road of dealing with losing her mate. That said, she will tell you right off that she has experienced a closeness with God that is tangible, real and very personal. It pays to listen to Mom...
To learn a bit more about Dad and the great man he was, check out his obituary.
On November 20th, a beautiful late fall day in Montana, we laid Dad to rest in the Churchill Cemetery. Dad lived a very full 90 years and spent almost all of them in the beautiful Gallatin Valley. One of the few times he lived somewhere else was in service to his country during the Korean War. For that service he was shown last respect by the Honor Guard. It was truly a moving ritual that was well-deserved.
The Honor Guard folding the American Flag to present to Mom.
Presenting the American Flag to Mom for Dad's years of service in the U.S. Army.
Dad and Mom's Pastor, Tim Kuperus, led the memorial service and it was just great.
Because of Covid we kept the service very small for immediate family and siblings. As you can imagine, after 90 years living in the same place, there were a lot of people that would have like to attended but we thought it best to keep the service small and safe, and video stream it instead. Although not the way we would have liked to memorialize Dad, the up-side of streaming is that the service it can still be watched by going to this site.
After Dad's memorial service we all went back to Mom's where her four boys surrounded her with a full commitment that she will be taken care of.
As it turned out, Dad died on Lisa's birthday, October 27th. It was a very strange day losing Dad while trying to celebrate Lisa's birthday. So, we went on one of Lisa's favorite hikes on the trail around Spooner Lake. Spooner is only a half-hour from our house and hiking was a great way to spend time with Lisa and cope with the news of losing Dad.
Lovely Lisa on her 56th birthday.
The "Queen" on her throne.
For Bob this fall was very surreal between huge job demands related to Covid and losing his Dad, but there were amazing things that happened too. Because of the pandemic he had done little traveling, but he did make one trip the third week of September to spend time with his parents. It was a magical and joyous time celebrating Mom's 87th birthday, going to the shooting range with his Dad, taking long drives and just visiting.
Bob's parents, Herb and Evie Potts.
Dad lining up at his shooting range with Bob's Uncle Jim spotting.
At 90 Dad still had what it takes grouping shots like this at 200 yards.
Bob said one of the best days he ever spent with his Dad and Mom was the day trip they took driving through beautiful Sixteen Mile Canyon near Maudlow, Montana.
A picture metaphor...