Flowers, Stories, and a Little Military
Beautiful Flowers and the Memory of Jim's Flower Garden
Jim had a flower garden that took up half of his backyard. With a gate around the backyard and a table and chairs to sit outside and enjoy it, he needed help maintaining it, which he certainly received from his daughter, as well as Right at Home.
To the end, Jim reminded his daughter: “Don’t forget about the flowers.” Virginia sent a most beautiful flower arrangement to our Right at Home office to Thank our Team, the week after his funeral. She stated it was the most appropriate way of thanking us, as new life was about to abound from Jim’s garden once again, as well as the resemblance of the beauty shared.
And, lastly, Jim stated“Don’t forget about the kids,” …he loved people for what was on the inside.
Jim Proudly Served Our Country
During the time spent caring for Jim, we also learned that Jim served his country. Since Right at Home also takes care of veterans, they had suggested that he explore the opportunity to get any veterans benefits to help pay for homecare. Jim didn’t think he would qualify, but also didn’t know why. On the last day of his life, his daughter, Virginia finally found out the classification of his service, and what it meant toward any benefits. He was a special brand commission called a Government Commission Civilian, in which the government classified them as civilian paid ($4000/yr), even though he was away from home, supporting the war effort. He performed duties to help make things possible for the military, such as going on the USS Hyde, to go to Honolulu to maintain dredging after the war, and helping to build the coastguard.
At his funeral, Virginia used a powerful poem to tell the story of his life, called The Dash. If you don’t know this poem, you need to Google it and read it, it is most wonderful, and very fitting for Jim’s life of choosing importance in things he does.