Creating a Casket 101

Well for the last three days our family, mainly my mom, dad, and grandmother, have been involved in the task of building a casket for my grandfather.

Tribute to Alden Betts
I haven't had the opportunity to get to know Alden as well as I would have liked. Here is a man who has lived a very long life in the church. His line of authority in the priesthood is amazing and fun to look at. He has read the Book of Mormon more times than he can remember. He has served numerous missions. Two of those missions I believe, he served in Nauvoo. He loves to read, and he loves John Wayne. He married my grandmother less than ten years ago, shortly after she had taken out her endowments. They would go on these little breakfasts together and that resulted in a courtship and marriage. Cute ha? Anyway, he is a fun man, with a good sense of humor, when he is feeling well. The last couple of years have not been the greatest for Grandpa Betts. My grandma and grandpa moved here recently so that my mother could help my grandmother care for him. He was taken to the hospital on Monday, and we were told that he would be passing away within a week or so. So sad to see him go. However, he has outlived his first and second wives, and I am sure that they are anxiously awaiting his return home.

If you Die, Make Sure You Stay Within Your Budget.
My grandparents don't have a lot of money, and Grandpa doesn't have much life insurance, so my grandma had to make some tough decisions. One of the decisions was to build a casket rather than purchase one. Coffins are really expensive!!
So my father, talented man that he is, jumped right in and started building him a casket. Following really general instructions off of a website and following guidlines given to him by the mortuary.

HERE WE GO!
My mother and grandmother have recently lost their minds, so after a dismissal from their Relief Society President, I took it upon myself to request help from our ward. I said it before and I will say it again....The Sisters in Our Ward Are The Best! I am not just saying that either. Whenever there is a problem or help is needed more than enough help is offered, and given.
We had the help from the three Staceys. Stacey Gooch, Stacey Nelson, and Myself. Ashley Sherer and Marie Hansen also came to help. I also got some calls from Connie Cunningham, and Franki Clements. Brother Campbell also offered to help. Wow what a response.
It only took two hours and Stacey Nelson's brain to put it all together.

The box was already done, well sort of. There was some last minute sanding and cleaning of the box. We just had to sew elastic to fabric, hem a few pieces and then staple and glue the fabric into the box. Easy as pie. Since we are all so experienced at making caskets.

OOOOOHHHHH yah right.

It was a very good thing Stacey Nelson turned her brain on this morning because the rest of us were just there waiting for orders. She seemed to know exactly what she was doing. You go girl. Marie Hansen got a little staple gun happy, you should have seen it. Ashley was scared of the staple gun, I really couldn't blame her. Stacey Gooch got burned a few times by the hot glue and we all almost got eaten by a wolf spider. It was an eventful project.

I wanted to give those women a great big hug, without seeming to weird, and tell them thanks for the help. It meant more than they could even imagine. So we will say goodbye to Grandpa Betts, soon. There wasn't much I could do for him but this was at least something we could do to serve a man who has contributed much of his life to serving the Lord.