William Barber Grant

William Barber Grant was my grandfather.  He died recently in June 2014.  Here are some of the pictures of the memorial spreading of ashes for both himself and and his wife.  We all gathered at Marina del Rey, CA and chartered some kind of boat that does that kind of thing.  We left around 10:00 and were on the boat until about 1:00.

Here are some of the picture collages made for Bill and Shirley

These two are views on the way out of the marina.  It was a beautiful Saturday morning.  

My dad looking at the collages. 

My dad gave one of the speeches.  He mainly opened it up for people to tell stories of Bill.  Each of the siblings got up and told a story.  The only story I really remember was of Gordon and Greg camping out with their dad.  Cousin Jennifer also got up and an old friend of the family did too.  It was a very nice time and people laughed more than they cried.  This was a time for celebration, not depression.  

Both Grandma and Grandpa are in the box together.  Gordon and Greg helped lower it down to the water.  

In the water but still attached to the boat.  

Free floating together while Gordon looks on.  Pam handed out yellow roses for people to throw in as well.  It was very nice.  

The majority of the people who attended saying their silent good byes. 

A pelican flew by to help them on their path.  

Unfortunately, the ashes didn't sink.  They were supposed to sink after 3-4 minutes but they just wouldn't.  It was joked that Grandma and Grandpa just didn't want to leave the party!  So Gordon talked to the Captain and they swung around two additional times to get close enough to the box to get it with the boat hook.  As you can see from the picture, almost at the exact moment that Gordon would've touched them, they started to sink on their own.  The boat hook was never used.  

Some of the ashes started to get loose as the box sunk and they shimmered in the water.  It was a very nice ceremony and a great experience to remember. 

On the way back to the marina we ate a brunch on the boat.  There were a ton of people out on their sailboats for the beautiful Saturday.  There even seemed to be a race going on in the distance.