Maryland Trip - September 2002

Mary's dad, Charles E. Williams, (known by most as Bill) died on August 19th, 2002 in Orlando, Florida. He was a veteran and wanted to be buried in Arlington National Cemetery where my mom (Leneta Regina Williams) and my sister (Rebecca L. Williams) are buried but because of a scheduling problem at Arlington National, his funeral wasn't until the 5th of September. This gave Rocke and I time to find some good prices for our airline tickets. We flew to Washington, D. C. on September 2nd and were met by my nephew, Charles Banning, his wife, Erin, and daughter, Courtney, who live in Virginia. We stayed with them until the day of the viewing.

We had a couple of days to visit with the Banning family before going to Maryland for the funeral services. Charles and his family are great and lots of fun to be with. The next day, Charles' mother, (my sister) Frances, arrived with her husband, Bob, and their daughter, Angela. I had not seen my sister and her family for quite a while, and Rocke had never met them, so this gave us a chance for him to meet them, and for us to visit with them. We went to a park nearby and play with Courtney on the playground, then out to dinner.

The day of the viewing (on Wednesday before the funeral), Rocke and I borrowed Charles' car and went up to the Wyndham Hotel where rooms had been reserved for family members in Gaithersburg, Maryland and Rocke got to meet more of my family. I have three brothers, and three sisters. My sisters are Kitty Bowersock of Winter Park, FL, Barbara Zempel of Lynnville, TN, and Frances Banning of Springfield, GA. My brothers are Butch (Martin) Williams of Silver Spring, Maryland, Charles Williams of Medford, OR, and Jimmy Williams of Taneytown, MD. Numerous aunts, uncles, and cousins were also there. What a big family!

The following day, Thursday, was the day of the funeral. After the services at Pumphrey's Colonial Funeral Home in Rockeville, Maryland, we all piled into cars for the trip to Arlington National Cemertery in Virginia for the actual burial. As my dad was a veteran, he was accorded all the honors of a military burial.....taps were played and there was a 7-gun salute. We all have seen this on TV a number of times, but, in person, it was much more impressive.

After Arlington, we returned to the hotel in Gaithersburg, Maryland with Mary's brother Butch and his wife Dolores' to eat and visit with members of the family who were at the funeral.

Friday was spent with my sister, Kitty and her husband, Stan. We went out to see the home that my father built. I and all of my sibblings, except for Frances, were born in this home. We spent Friday night at the hotel with Kitty and Stan. On Saturday morning, Kitty, Stan, Rocke and I moved to Butch and Dolores' place and spent the night with them. We visited on Saturday and on Sunday morning, Butch and Dolores took us back to the airport for our return flight back home to Portland.