Fielder's Choice

Reuniting with family you haven’t seen in quite a while is certainly a good thing.

Unfortunately, it often comes due to the death of a loved one.

One of my aunts, Joan Frederick Carden, passed away February 4. She was 87. She lived in Decatur, Ala.

When I found out Aunt Joan had been admitted to the hospital after a fall and was in ICU, I made it a point to get the telephone number of my first cousin Danny.

I last saw him at another funeral of another aunt eight years ago.

I called Danny’s office and got his number and immediately made the call. He answered while on his way to the hospital to spend time with his mother, who was in very serious condition.

I could feel Danny’s great sadness, but at the same time, there were laughs, too, as he shared memories and favorite stories about his mom. I was so glad I made the call.

Aunt Joan was a live wire. She lived life to the fullest with a lot of energy. She was not the quiet one. She had a ball during her days on this earth.

Danny and I talked a couple of more times and also shared text messages. Then on Friday, Feb. 4, at 8:10 p.m., he sent a text that read, “Mom passed.”

A couple of days later he sent me the funeral arrangements.

Friday, Feb. 11, Pam and I made the two and a half hour drive to Decatur to attend the service in memory of Aunt Joan. As soon as I walked into Roselawn Funeral Home Chapel I saw a beautiful picture of a beautiful lady.

Then when I walked into the chapel where the family gathered, there were old photos flashing across the screen above Aunt Joan’s casket.

They included photos of Aunt Joan and her siblings ­ my mother Lavelle, who died in 2013, aunts Betty and Brenda and uncles Mack and Bobby. One was a photo I took of all six of them together at what used to be an annual gathering on the first Sunday in May at my grandparents’ old home in Hackleburg, Ala. Their smiles lit up the photo.

As Pam and I made our way through the line to visit with Danny and Aunt Joan’s other two sons, Gary and Todd, I focused on the tremendous love my mother had for her sisters and brothers. They were close. They visited often. They stayed in touch.

Today, we don’t do that so much. We’ve lost that sense of family in a lot of ways.

Then Danny, Gary, Todd and I rekindled some of the memories we had as children from those Frederick family reunions.

There were lots and lots of good times, including plenty of tag football games (that often turned into tackle) in that small yard at Mawmaw and Pawpaw’s house. The Fredericks are a tough bunch.

Some words in Aunt Joan’s funeral program said it all. They summarized what I will always cherish about this beautiful lady.

“She never met a stranger and liked everyone regardless of where they came from. She did not have a problem giving you her opinion whether it was good or bad.

“She was honest, trustworthy, fun-loving and a gem of a mother and lady. She was spirited, spunky and unafraid. She touched the lives of many, many people.”