Community Chat

[KathyPet]

I grew up in a town where my father and his family had lived for a very long time. WHen one of these relatives passed away there was, of course, a wake held. THe wake usually was held over two days with a 2 hour time period each afternoon and another two hours each evening. This allowed time for the mourners to pay their respects and spend a few minutes with the family of the deceased.

Now I live in a over 55 community and I have lost a few friends since we moved here. A close friend died yesterday. The wake will be held for 2 hours tomorrow evening. Last year one of our resident's died and he had served as the Superintendent of Schools in the County for 18 years and had been very active in civic and church activities. Same time schedule. Two hours on one evening. THe line of people waiting to get up to the head of the line to exchange a word with his widow took 45 minutes to reach her.

The friend that I lost yesterday lived in this county for over 35 years and she and her spouse were also very active in church and community affairs. THe crowd will be huge.

My question is why did they start cutting back on the hours that wakes are held? If they allowed time in the afternoon and then again in the evening people who are not working could attend in the afternoon leaving the evening hours for working friends to pay their respects.