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: