Papa Martinelli

After a great visit with Janie and Jeremy Sandberg. I had some very unfortunate news. My Papa (Stan Martinelli) passed away on May 26 2008 (Memorial Day).
So then on Monday night my family made arrangements for me to fly to Buffalo the next day. I went into work Tuesday and had to hope they would give me the rest of the week off for an emergency funeral and they were very understanding. One of my coworkers was even nice enough to drive me to the airport ( I would have had to take the bus.) So I only took a backpack so I wouldnt have to check any bags and make things complicated with the airlines. Oh, but with my luck there was still problems. There was storms over Houston so we ended up being 1hr and half late to catch my connection to Buffalo, which was the last flight out. That meant I had to sleep at the Philelphia airport. (add another airport sleepover to the list) So, I arrived in Buffalo the next morning. My parents picked me up. It was so good to see them again. I love the way my dad greets me at airports, he is always so excited to see me! My mom has family in Buffalo and we had lunch with them and then headed to Burlington for my Papa's wake. We went to an afternoon wake and then an evening wake. But it was closed coffin (good thing). THe following day we had funeral for my Papa which all his family participated in either my sciptures, speaking, eulogy or ball bearer. My Papa was Lutheran so we had a Lutheran ceremony, it was really different and weird when they receited prayers.
My Papa was an awesome man. He served in World War II in the Navy for Canada. He had a bunch of medals and lots of stories of his boat. He operated the sonar system on the big submarines. He was always really fun! I will miss him alot. I remember we would see hime at least twice a year. During the summer for BBQ and pool parties at his condo and in November when we would have an early Christmas with him and cousins in Barry. Good Memories!! At the end of his life he had Dementia and was slowly going down hill. It was his time to leave this life and stop suffuring. I love my Papa!
It was very nice to be able to be with my family though. I got to spend almost four days with them. another good thing that came out of this was i got to give my mom a better view of my wedding plans 'in person'