10th Anniversary since Tom's passing

It's been ten years since my sweet Father in law passed away.  He was a kind hearted, hard working, family loving, spiritual man.
OBITUARY:    Thomas Nash Welch, 70 of Bountiful, Utah, returned to his heavenly home peacefully the afternoon of April 26, 2004 in the presence of his dear wife, all of his children and their spouses.
He was born August 13, 1933 to Samuel and Minnie Jane (Hughes) Welch, the sixth of seven children. He married his sweetheart, Wanee Israelsen, in the Logan Temple on July 30, 1958.  Thomas was raised in Harper, Utah ( near Brigham City) and spent his early years working on the family farm.  He served an LDS mission to Somoa and came to love the Polynesian people and culture.  He graduated from USU in 1957 with a degree in Mechanical Engineering.  He served in the Army Reserves for six years.  He worked with his wife's family on the Buttercup Dairy in North Logan, Utah.  He loved the farm work but a back injury made it difficult for him to do the manual labor necessary to run a dairy farm.  He went back to USU and received his teaching certificate in Secondary Education.  He taught Auto Mechanics and Math at Viewmont and WoodsCross High Schools.  He retired in 1995.  He had a brilliant mind and rivaled any computer on things mathematical.
He was a faithful, active member of the LDS church.  His love to the Savior was shown in his service to others and his willingness to serve in many different capacities in the church.  He loved his family and enjoyed spending time with them at the family cabin.  He was an extremely hard worker and worked many extra jobs to support his wife and nine children.  He will be remembered for his sense of humor, his storytelling, his excellent cooking and the love that he had for his family especially his grandchildren.

I was going through some family scrapbooks and was reminded of his funeral.  This is what I wrote about it to my parents who were in Scotland at the time, May 3, 2004:

Wayne got to go on Friday morning, with his brothers and help to dress his dad.  He said this was a reaally special experience.  The viewing Friday night was so nice.  No real tears shed-- just happiness and good visiting with such good people.  It was great.  We had a number of our old ward members and high school friends come through.  We were so surprised.  The outpouring of love was nice.  We had to gather at 4:00 for the family viewing.  They lifted up both parts of the casket and showed all of the little kids that grandpa did indeed still have his legs.  It was cute.  Scott Russon did such a great job explaining it all.  He did the hand and glove metaphor to explain the spirit and the body to the children.  They all gathered around the casket spell bound.  They got to ask questions.  They asked, "Why is Grandpa wearing a green apron?"  ( part of his temple clothes)  Lindsey volunteered the answer, "Isn't it becaue he loves to cook?"  We all chuckled.  They also wanted to know why his watch and glasses were on.  Good questions.  Tom really did look great.  Better than any I have seen.  He just looked asleep-- not made up.  He was very cold to the touch and many grandkids commented on this.  It was funny.   It was great to have the whole family together, except the 2 missionary boys.  Dale didn't make it to any of the viewing or any of the services on Saturday-- he just couldn't do it--the voices were just too powerful.   The viewing line just kept going and going.  As we said our last goodbyes it was just really sad to see all of the grandkids crying.  Hunter- Tami's 5 year old-- said his goodbyes to Grandpa and patted him on the cheek and said really loud, "Hey grandpa you feel like a corn dog."  That brought us a great chuckle and the tears stopped.  Holly was cheery all day.  She has this all figured out.  No tears for her.  The veil is so thin for her.  She really does see and speak to those on the other side.  The funeral talks were all excellent.  Wayne held up Dale's picture and read his talk.  It was sweet.  I sang without a tear.  The closing song, Families can be together Forever,  was sung by all of the grandkids. Addison cried through the whole thing.  Truman cried through most of it--Monson cried at the end and Landon holding Laila did great.  He stayed strong.
Truman got to ride in the limosene with Lindsey, Wanee and Holly.  They were all crying so they begged Grandma Welch to sing, "How much is that doggey in the window" to cheer them up. She barks for them.  It was a hoot.
The weather was lovely. We actually had a line up at the cemetery and had another funeral ahead of us only 8 feet away from where our tent was set up so we sat and waited 20 minutes for our turn.  That was crazy.  The casket was draped witha flag because Tom served in the military-- so TAPs was played and Rob, Wayne, Terry and Mark took off and folded the flag and presented to to Wanee.  It was very touching.  Wanee had 40 roses there for each grandkid to take and place on the casket.  Her passing out the flowers to each of the kids was very sweet.  It was a great day.  Long but great.