by Emily Pertee

Created on: January 30, 2010   Last Updated: February 11, 2010

Just the mere thought of finding anything funny in the midst of a funeral sounds just awful, but let me fill you in on what kind of man Leonard was. He was always a humorous man, with a joke up every sleeve. Leonard and his brother Phillip were always seeing who could get the best joke on one another. The thought of being so serious upon his death would have not have fulfilled his wishes in the least, but it's a funeral for heaven's sake. We had to go by the book. So, thats what we tried to do.

The family all gathered in the funeral home for the evening wake of my great uncle. Eighty years old, Leonard had spent a lifetime contributing to his family, sharing his love with all he had come in contact with. Living relatives consisted of a sister , Verna and another brother, Phillip. They were all pretty close in age and lived quite close to one another all their lives. The family had remained close when it came to losing family members and always tried to attend any and all funerals out of respect and love.

That fateful day came when we all got the news our dear great uncle Leonard had passed away peacefully. Our whole family was saddened at the news. My mom started calling all the family members to let them know of his passing. Some family members were a little scattered and living in another state. She informed them of when the funeral arrangements would be. They all gathered together to come back home to pay their last respects. They arrived and we were all so happy to see them even though it was under these kind of circumstances.

The evening of the wake, we gathered together and went down to the funeral home. Some people stood in groups just quietly talking amongst one another. A silent atmosphere of whispering and soft words spoken of our great uncle Leonard. He was such a dear old soul. Our family from out of state was sitting quietly and speaking to people that they hadn't seen in quite awhile, just catching up and talking about how they were going to miss him as a fixture in our family. We all still had not walked up to the casket to take one last look at our dear family member yet.

Our family and the family that was from out of state were sitting there and everybody had become silent in the funeral home. Just light murmurs was all that you could hear. I look over at my cousins face and it looked like he just seen a ghost!. His face became white and he gasped at just who walked through the door. It was Leonard's brother Phillip. Our family from out of state had thought Phillip was the one who had died. So, seeing him walk through that door was such a shocking moment to them. The looks on their faces were priceless, but deep down we all knew Leonard would have been slapping his sides laughing, for this was the way he wanted to go out of this world, hearing only laughter. Well, he got his wish after all, we all burst out laughing in that funeral home that night in honor of our dearly departed Leonard. For such a sad moment in time, we all had to find the humor in that particular moment.

Learn more about this author, Emily Pertee.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.