Just back from the wonderful memorial service in Plattsburgh, NY on Monday for my father in law, Dr. Boen Tong Kho. I've said before what a great man he was, and the standing room only crowd, the tears, and the hearty laughter were all a testament to his character. Andrew and I were particularly struck by the community that came together around my mother in law to set up the funeral; seems like every time we looked up someone was dropping off a meal, offering to set up the chairs, arranging the flowers, or something else that we didn't know we needed help doing. All I could think during the service was, "BT would have LOVED this party."
And we're thankful for our community in California too, the friends who dropped off a Bo's BBQ dinner a few hours after we touched down at SFO, and the ones who snuck into the house and stocked our 'fridge with the necessities like orange juice and Ben and Jerry's. My father in law was a genius, a PhD in chemistry who survived a Nazi work camp in Holland and had a long list of career accomplishments and a razor sharp memory until Alzheimer's robbed him of that. But all agreed that BT's highest priority was in family and friends, and I feel so lucky to have such a great support network too, both in NY and in CA.
Here's a pic I took of BT with his two of his biggest fans, six years ago...
No comments:
Post a Comment