My beloved grandfather's funeral
Trip Start
Jan 10, 2006
1
2
Trip End
May 17, 2006
Tuntable Falls,
Australia
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
The funeral was timed to coincide with our arrival but the plane was delayed by 2 hours. A relative picked me up and as we took the 2 hour drive from the airport to my grandfather's home area a storm of dangerously torrential rain hit us, slowing our progress again. It seemed an apt welcome. The funeral started when I arrived and it was a touching low-key ceremony, appropriate for the wonderful character he was
My beloved grandfather's funeral
.Jack McKinnon had lived on the side of a mountain in the forest in a natural earth-caring community of good people, and he philosophised about humankind and consciousness and the nature of being as well as taught many disadvantaged children to read. He even published a book on teaching children to read, "Teach Your Child To Read" by Jack McKinnon, and his self-invented method was highly successful. In fact, I was one of the children he first taught to read and I was reading fluently by the age of 4, well before starting school. As the books are now out of print I am considering looking for an international publisher to publish the same content for primarily non English-speaking countries, if any of you happen to be in the international publishing business...?
His funeral was held in the community hall and the coffin was then put in the back of a station wagon and driven up to a spot on the side of the hill where a small graveyard stands under an orchard of mango trees. Some of the community folk had already prepared the grave, and we all worked together to lower his coffin into it and cover it up with earth. Being overwhelmed by the journey my daughter slept through the entire ceremony and burial. My grandfather is apparently the last person to be buried there on the community land and he is much loved and greatly missed
My beloved grandfather's funeral
. I lived and worked and built with him for several years and spent hours at his side listening to stories and insights until I was drawn overseas by fate and chance.It saddens me immensely not to have been there when he died, but making it to the funeral, pouring that earth with my hands onto his coffin and burying him together with the rest of the community that treasured him was a great consolation and I really appreciate the love and care they showed him.
First thing in the morning on the day after the funeral a mysterious, beautiful carpet python visited us. It rested in the sun near the verandah at Megan's house, much the same as Jack used to spend mornings on his own balcony before beginning a day's work.
