In Norwood, the church and the funeral home were both possible places to hold the service. Jake’s body would be embalmed and the three-day mourning period would begin. The question was where would the final service be held? At that time, the United Church, like many Protestant churches was trying to cut costs. Realizing that funerals added costs not revenues, churches hoped to get funeral homes to pick up the cost of a service. The minister would gladly go to the funeral home to conduct the service as this did not require heating up the church and cleaning after people had left. Churches were only interested in providing a paid luncheon in the basement after the graveyard service. The funeral home, a business-for-profit, saw the opportunity to provide the complete service, justifying a hefty fee.
The funeral director and the minister, a new recruit after the retirement of Reverend Wright, realized that Jake’s funeral was going to be too large for the funeral home to conduct. A church would have to provide the service. Then, a form would be filled out to explain to the authorities in the head office why the funeral was held in church. The United Church Minister was expecting one to two-hundred people to attend the funeral, which, he estimated would require four or five hours of extra caretaking time and added expenses for cleanup after the casket was gone.
However, over one thousand people attended and the church, front steps, and lawn were filled with mourners and spectators. The procession to the graveyard was a continuous line of cars and trucks stretching from the church to the gravesite.
The traditional pallbearers were cousins and friends of Jake’s. Many students from NDHS attended, as well as all the kids who had gone to elementary school with Jake. This community tragedy touched the heart of a wide range of people in and around Norwood.
The United Church Minister was new to town, new to the ministry, and was grasping to find a meaningful sermon. He took out a funeral eulogy template provided by head office and was busy talking to friends and relatives to find key words to fill in the blanks, so the sermon would sound as if he knew Jake, the family, and the town’s feelings. The Reverend also realized that this was an opportunity to establish his reputation, not only with the church members but also with the community at large. He worked hard. This is where a good partner comes in. His wife watched her husband working and suggested, “Why not call the retired Reverend Wright to help conduct the service?” Reverend Wright was very pleased to get the call and he led the proceedings and coached the new minister on how this funeral should flow.
Norwood cemetery, mainly full of Protestants, is on the north side of the esker that divides the town in two. In November the ground has not frozen and a site can be strobed and dug, so the body does not have to go into the crypt to wait for a spring burial. The men who dig graves always push a thin metal pole or strobe into the ground to find out what is below.
At the grave site, the front row was given to Jake’s parents and the other five members of the hunting camp. Manley stood in the center of the group. As the casket was lowered into the grave, the minister drew a white sand cross onto the head of the casket with his aluminum push-button cylinder. The creaking of the straps while the casket was lowered, reminded all that their turn would come sometime in the future.
What most mourners did not notice was Jake’s twin sister, Rose moving over beside Manley and quietly slipping her hand into his. Rose worshiped her older brother, older by a mere fifteen minutes. Everyone in and outside the family expected sisters and brothers not to get along, but Jake and Rose had a special relationship. They did everything together. They took on their small world as a formidable team. They had a pact.
The casket was being lowered and reality set in.
When people attend a funeral they do four things. One, they look around at all the headstones and realize that they are in a cemetery; two, they read names to see if they recognize someone buried there; three, they realize that some day they will be here or in another cemetery; and four, they think about why they are here today.
Jake’s family touched many people in Norwood and now, as they stood at the gravesite, they all thought about this family. Reverend Wright had a special talent in reaching one’s soul. During the service, after the Thirty-Second Psalm was read, the Reverend paused. He raised his voice and looked at the crowd in a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree circle. He said, “I served in the Second World War and Remembrance Day is soon approaching. I have found the minute of silence to be the most important part of my life. I want you to take two minutes now to think of the best time, the most important time, the toughest time, the time you should have spent with Jake. We will be silent. I don’t want you to close your eyes, as I invite you to look over at that hill to the south and see Jake and his twin sister Rose screaming with laughter and filling their faces with snow as they careen out of control down the hill.”
While growing up, Rose often thought about how poorly Jake dressed. Jake would put on clothes only because he had to wear them. The hat was on his head, his shirt was buttoned up, and his pants were on. Colours matching or clothes fitting were not his concerns. The best way to think of Jake was - yes, the hat is on. Rose and other young girls saw Jake’s potential and thought if only they could get their hands on him to make improvements. Jake was too busy talking, listening, and teasing to worry about what he looked like. If he was warm in the winter and cool in the summer, he had spent enough time on that chore. Jake’s best day was when he had to dress only once. To change clothes more than once was an absolute punishment. Skinny-dipping in the local creek was the ultimate freedom.
Hank, Jake’s best friend, who lived on the farm next over, sat either behind him or in front of him in every grade of elementary school. Each grade had its row in the one-room school. Where you sat depended on who was growing the fastest and who was the tallest. The shortest student sat at the front and the tallest one sat at the back. It seemed each year, Jake and Hank would trade places with each other. The year they graduated to Norwood District High School, all students were streamed. Students with the highest marks were in 9A and those with the lowest marks were in 9E. Again, Hank and Jake ended up in the same class. They rode the same bus together and ate lunch side-by-side in the cafeteria. Hank was busily trying to fit in and envied Jake, who was a roller, having fun with the new experience of high school, meeting kids from Hastings, Havelock, Norwood, Cordova, and Centre Dummer.
Once a month, there was a sock hop in the school gymnasium on the last Friday of the month. Friday buses would be held back and would not take students home until 9:00 o’clock. Jake loved to dance and he always seemed to be on the floor. Girls would sit on steel chairs against the south wall, and guys would sit on steel chairs on the north wall. Once a record started, each guy would figure out if he could move to the music, and if he could, and had the courage, he would walk across the gym and ask the girl he had been admiring for a dance. Jake was on the floor all the time. The girls wanted to dance, not to sit, and they would dance with anyone once or twice just to get up. Jake discovered this secret early and worked his way down the line. Jake was there to dance and all the girls could hardly wait to be asked.
At the gravesite, Brenda broke out in uncontrolled laughter. To Brenda it seemed to last forever, but for the quiet crowd, it was short. Some people in tragic situations are so overwrought, that instead of crying, the socially-acceptable behaviour, they break out laughing.
Brenda was the hockey coach’s daughter, who attended every game her dad coached. During practices she would put on her skates, boys’ skates, not figure skates with points on the front. Brenda would always correct her hockey guys and she would say, “They are picks not points. Do you want to pick a fight or get poked?” Jake would always find a way to set her up, so she could score a goal. The coach’s daughter was off limits for a rough stick-check, or a push into the boards or goal post. Brenda made practices fun as players could see she was trying as hard as they were and having as much fun.
The coach had two older sons who were grown up and long gone when along came a surprise, Brenda. He forgot most of the times that his daughter was a girl and took her places, just like he had done with his two sons. If he needed a spare goalie, she would put the pads; if he needed a forward, or a defenseman, she would fill that role. Brenda