Our Other Blog

Gravestone for Dad

A dear family friend, Benoit Dessard, made this headstone for my dad. We're so grateful...
*******

Jere McKinney

"...Long-time, steadfast servant of Baha'u'llah"

-The Universal House of Justice






Once the rainy season begins, a garden will be planted around the grave.

Anniversary of Dad's passing

Letter from mom:
Hi everyone,

I just wanted to share with you the beautiful Feast we had last night.

I dedicated this Feast to Jere since it was the eve of his passing. Interestingly at the last minute 15 more people arrived from the seminar they were having for coordinators of pre-youth groups. They came from Panama, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, and Mexico. They came full of songs and laughter and it was truly a special Feast in Jere's honor. I know he was happy - he loved big "booming" gatherings with the friends.

I had made dinner (Enchaladas, beans, mexican rice, salad and chocolate cake) planning it just for our community, but as is always the case the "bread" kept multiplying and everyone was fed with some left over. I'll send pictures later today.

Right now, I'm leaving with Marcos to see how we can transport the "lapida" for Dad's grave - It's sooooo beautiful.

And I just got word from Colin that Ilka is on her way to the hospital to deliver Sierra Leon [Ali's daughter!]. How interesting that today is the day that Dad left and it will be the day that his granddaughter arrives!

I know we will all be saying special prayers.

Love you all deeply,

Mom/Julie
[The marble headstone will be put in tomorrow after a final polishing, and a garden will be planted around the grave by the community]

Blooming flowers

Mom's blog

My mom just started a new blog. Here's the link:

More than Gratitude

"They that have forsaken their country in the path of God and subsequently ascended unto His presence, such souls shall be blessed by the Concourse on High and their names recorded by the Pen of Glory among such as have laid down their lives as martyrs in the path of God, the Help in peril, the Self Subsisting."
-Bahá'úlláh

It's so comforting to think of dad in this elevated position.

Love you all

Mom/Julie

My Mom has planted a beautiful, small garden over his grave:

My dad was the person responsible for taking huququllah payments and sending them to the holy land. Also for teaching about huquq to the baha'is in the country.
My mom hosted the Huququllah representatives from Central America (Costa Rica, Mexico, Honduras and El Salvador) for several days. They were in Costa Rica for a meeting and a conference.
Here's a picture of them visiting my dad's grave.

Dad's Memorial

We had a very dignified memorial for my Dad.
The family each read a prayer or writing. My brothers, Colin and David, sang a beautiful Hidden Word: "O Son of Man! If thou lovest Me, turn away from thyself; and if thou seekest My pleasure, regard not thine own; that thou mayest die in Me and I may eternally live in thee." - Baha'u'llah
Moad Grasselli sang "Ya-Baha'u'llah-Abha" and Juliet Seals sang "Blessed is the Spot".
Then we watched a sweet video of my Dad's life which was prepared so perfectly and tenderly by David. Finally, friends shared stories and thoughts about him. Everyone has been touched in a very particular way by my Dad. Everyone was important to him and he thought at all times of being of some service to everyone who crossed his path.
I feel so incredibly proud of being his daughter. And I'm so thankful for my Mom. She took such good care of him throughout his life, and especially these last six months as his condition worsened. She has always been his loving, supportive companion and teammate, and will keep him in her heart as she devoutly carries on the work of the Cause.
Please keep her in your prayers along with my Dad.
Thank you to all those who attended the memorial service, and for everyone's loving and supportive emails and phone calls.







The memorial was held on our back porch. Friends filled these 70 or so chairs and stood on the sides and in the back.



The video of his life was projected onto this wall:

Food was served here:



We printed out everyone's loving emails and blog comments. People were free to read through them and add their own:

Memorial Service: Sunday, December 23, 1 pm.

My Mom has this very special prayer room on the top floor of her house:




My mom received this letter today:

The National Spiritual Assembly
of the Baha'is of Costa Rica


Dear Baha'i Friends,

The Universal House of Justice was saddened to learn of the passing of
long-time, steadfast servant of Baha'u'llah Jere McKinney, whose years of
dedicated service to the Cause as a pioneer are recalled with gratitude.
Kindly assure his family of the prayers of the House of Justice at the
Sacred Threshold for the progress of his devoted soul throughout the worlds of God
as well as for their own comfort and solace.

With loving Baha'i greetings,

Department of the Secretariat





The family getting together, cheering each other up:

My beloved father, Jere, passed away late this evening (December 12th).

Allah-u-Abha!

In mom's words: Dad embraced himself with his arms, took a deep
breath, lifted his hands in the air, laid them down and closed his
eyes with a smile on his face. When I walked into the room he had the
most serene look on his face.
Shortly after he passed away some of the members of the community arrived and we all gathered to say some prayers together. Mom didn't want him to just lay there all night in bed, so between Marcos, Dick and I we washed and prepared the body for
today's funeral. The casket was brought in at midnight and is hand-made of the finest hard wood. We made last minute decisions last night to have the funeral today (13th of December) and then a memorial later on when mom decides is best. So today's funeral will begin with prayers at 2:00PM local Costa Rican time at our house, at 3:00 PM we will have a car take the casket to the local cemetery. My mom will
then let everyone know when we can have a memorial for the people that
could not attend the funeral. I think she wanted to keep the funeral
down to family members, close friends and the local community.

Dad already had a death certificate and that is being submitted as I
speak...I have a lot to do so I will keep this short.. Love you all very
much.. I slept with mom last night and we stayed up until early hours
this morning talking about things, which was really nice. Hardly slept
at all, so forgive this disorderly informative letter.

Love and more love,
David.

A few pictures

My Dad just sent these pics of he and my Mom with the Ighani family and with their friend Ben:

Update Nov. 27th

From an email from Julie:

Jere continues to remain comfortable with the medicines he's taking. We also found a wonderful young woman who is a physical therapist and lives here in town. She comes up every day to massage his feet and legs and is helping to keep the edema under control.

Today we went to the regional convention to elect delegates and everyone applauded when we walked in. It was a very heart-warming moment.

He's losing weight rapidly, however, even though he is eating regularly and well, albeit not a lot. The doctor says this is the result of the matastisis. As a result, he also has much less energy and sleeps a great deal more. Last week we had more blood tests done and will have the results on the doctor's next visit the 7th of December - the day that Ali and his girlfriend Ilka arrive.

He remains positive and "tranquilo" and now looks forward to emails.

With warmest of love
Julie

Update Nov. 7th

Update sent from Julie:

Yesterday we had a visit from the pain clinic doctors who said they were concerned about the build-up of fluids in his system, but very happy to see him out of bed and eating much better. His appetite has increased 200% since we started giving him the new nausea medication. In fact most of his conversation centers around what he would like to eat. He’s lost those very hollow cheeks and I’m having a hard time keeping up with his voracious appetite!

The doctor has started him on some medicine that will reduce the water, but we must be careful to keep him hydrated at the same time – back to “pipa” (cocunut water). Last night he must have dropped a gallon of water he was up so many times to go to the bathroom, in fact, this morning the swollen stomach, groin and legs seemed much smaller. He feels so good that I’m kept busy running him around to hardware stores to find various items for home improvements. Yesterday, he actually changed the old toilet seat for a new one himself. He loves to just get out in the car a go to different places. Since he can’t drive (reaction time is slowed because of the morphine) I have become the official chauffer.

We still have lots of visitors coming by and bringing with them special blessings to our house. Dad really looks forward now to the visits and because he feels so much better can converse with everyone a lot longer.

*****

Pictures coming soon!

Back in Boston

My time in Costa Rica was very special. I'm so thankful I got this opportunity.
I've returned to Boston now, but intend to continue posting every bit of info and pictures I receive. In the meantime, I'm continuing my posts of Sasha on our other blog (link on the right).
Thank you all again for your prayers, emails, phone calls, and visits!

My Dad is still keeping busy, resting as needed, eating well and attending baha'i events whenever he gets a chance.

Here we are basking in the morning sun:




Mom helping Dad get ready to go to a Devotional gathering in our local community:



Mom seeing Dad off (she takes such good care of him!)



Sasha and Ela joined us too:




They sat together during prayers:



Devotional gathering:



Below are friends who have come from all over to visit with him:









I posted new pics on our other blog (click on the link on the right: Sasha, Aria and James)

Today we went to our neighbor, Gary's salt-water pool. He has the water set to a comfortable temperature and invited my Dad over to get some exercise.








Sasha didn't turn down the invitation to come along. She was ready before everyone else!