Tom Kunst was known to all as a friend, but to a treasured few; beloved husband, father and Papa. Tom died tragically while doing something he loved, training on his bicycle. Over the years, Tom became an avid competitor. Competition soon became a family affair, often including his wife and sons. Tom loved being with his family, pushing himself physically and being out in God’s creation.
Lately we find ourselves in spaces that feel upended and abnormal. Nothing feels routine or familiar. We have adapted, adjusted and let go of things that seem an impossibility. But where does that leave grief? Where does that leave this family who tragically loses its patriarch?
In the last weeks we have listened to families express “its not our fault that mom died during a national crisis”. They want to gather for support with their family and friends. They want to have an event that marks the significance of a life. They want to be able to share their grief with others…. But social distancing changes our traditions. We face this frustration with families as we try to balance the basic needs for mourning and the present reality of social distancing. We can work with you to find options that meet your immediate needs with the limits of our current situation.
Sure, we love a good BBQ and picnic to kick off the summer as much as anyone else, but in our work we’ve been deeply affected by the stories of the veterans in our community. We’re proud and humbled to host this annual Community Memorial Picnic in their collective honor, and we love seeing generations come together to share stories and recognize those among us who served our country so faithfully.
Every year we'll purchase an ornament for our grief tree for people that we lost who are important to us. As we add new ornaments to our grief tree, we'll have a tangible way to see how many years we'll live through this grief. Grief is part of who we are and what we own now, and that grief tree is a symbolic of who we are now.
This, and 4 other ways to include remembering loved ones as part of your Christmas traditions.
“We were here at Grand Coney since 2004, the first week they opened. We’ve been here a long time. When they opened it was something new so we decided to try it, and we’ve been here pretty much ever since,” recounts Dale. They spent the last of their 10,000 breakfasts tradition together here.
“As soon as Tom’s family told me about the socks and the hats, I told them they had to bring them in for the visitation,” said Life Story Funeral Director Paul Uzarski, adding that they thought there might be too many. “I told them to bring them all in. Tom’s hats and socks tell a special part of his life story; they are uniquely Tom and serve as connecting points to both him and his family.”
“It’s shocking how many families we serve who are impacted by this awful disease,” said Heritage Life Story Funeral Home Co-Owner Lee Karelse. “That’s why we decided to co-sponsor the Promise Garden, to give participants a hands-on experience to remember and honor those living with Alzheimer’s and their caregivers.”
For the last 35 years, Sveri went to Sandy's Donuts, Monday through Friday, to have coffee with friends. And just to be clear, she only ate a donut on Fridays or if it was someone's birthday.
Dozens of family and friends gathered at the church to remember and celebrate Eileen, a longtime special education teacher for Grand Rapids Public Schools, a world traveler, a teddy bear collector (she had at least one or a dozen bears in every room of her house) and an avid reader (she read all the way through her library's selection of books up through the letter "M").
While Sharon will always be remembered for her funny antics—she once wore a construction hat and danced to “YMCA” (in the totally wrong letter sequence) at her daughter’s wedding—it’s her legacy of faith, love and generosity that made the biggest impact on all who knew her, evidenced by the church pews packed with people.
We had the privilege of speaking about green burials last night at Making Choices Michigan, a local non-profit organization that helps people determine their end-of-life preferences, document those preferences in an advance directive (AD) and develop a system for storing and retrieving the AD.
Sure, we love a good BBQ and picnic to kick off the summer as much as anyone else, but in our work we’ve been deeply affected by the stories of the veterans in our community. We’re proud and humbled to host this annual Community Memorial Picnic in their collective honor, and we love seeing generations come together to share stories and recognize those among us who served our country so faithfully.
We had the privilege of speaking about green burials last night at Making Choices Michigan, a local non-profit organization that helps people determine their end-of-life preferences, document those preferences in an advance directive (AD) and develop a system for storing and retrieving the AD.
If there was ever a backup in the checkout lane, Shirley Despres was almost always to blame.
“Everyone wanted to go to Shirley’s lane,” one of her former Family Fare co-workers shared at the 84-year-old’s visitation on Thursday. “Shoppers would wait in line for twenty minutes even if other lanes were open just to talk to Shirley. That’s just how great she was.”
Every time Henry Tjoelker walked through the doors of Third Reformed Church his pockets were full of peppermints. And not just any peppermints—skip the Altoids and Certs—Henry was a proud Dutchman and therefore, a peppermint purist. His go-to brands—Wilhelmina and King—hailed from his native country of the Netherlands. It was no surprise, then, to the family and friends gathered for Henry's memorial service on Monday, that there were bags of the mint candies waiting for them in every pew.
What's with all the clocks, the model boats and the recumbent bike in the room? Did Heritage Life Story Funeral Home open its own hobby shop? Nope. Those items belonged to Tom Mathews—tinkerer extraordinaire.
"This is great," exclaimed Chad Russ while gathering with friends and family before his grandfather Tom's memorial service on Saturday. "Look at all of his stuff here."
Richard Hoonhorst loved to tell jokes. If you didn't catch the punchline the first time around (or even if you did), he'd enthusiastically tell it again...and again...and again. Just ask his friends at Sandy's Donuts on Grand Rapids' West Side—the place where Richard spent countless mornings drinking his coffee, enjoying a donut and cracking jokes. Most of them will groan, laugh and share their favorite of his one-liners by memory. That's what happens when you hear something for the second, fifth, tenth, hundredth time.
