November 20, 2007 (Goodbye)

Salt Lake City

Saying Goodbye

Yesterday I went to a friend’s funeral. It was hard not to think about death when I was there. It was kind of the first time I went to a funeral in my life, so i don't have much experience dealing with death.

Wayne G. Ashworth passed away the on Friday 16 at the age of 88 from natural causes. I met the old man 4 years ago. I painted his house, and helped him go to bed many times, but I never really got to know him.

He was old. Every time Wayne would see me he would ask the same question "Who is this guy?" and someone would say "He is a friend who came from Argentina to study" So every time he would look at me with his huge ocean blue eyes and smile saying "It's that right"

When I went to his viewing and his funeral I didn’t think it would affect me at all. But seeing my friends sad made me sad.

His body didn’t look like him. Even though he was old and slept most of the time, the guy laying in front of me didn’t look like him at all. His daughter commented that it was interesting to see the light that the spirit brings to our body.

In his funeral his relatives kept talking what a hard-worker he was, and how strong his teaching were that kept the whole family strong values, hard work ethics and united.

How do you say goodbye to a person that influenced so many generations of people?

I thought that Wayne’s son talk in the funeral was awesome. There was one part he didn’t talk to the people anymore he talked to his dad saying “Don’t go thinking what you could have done, go looking what you did, what you left us, out values, out characters…”

The funeral was very emotional, but that is not Wayne’s style they kept saying so to honor the family’s style. They put the coffin in the back of Wayne’s company truck.

It was great. In the side of the coffin you could read “Never late, always early”

On the way to the cemetery we crossed Downtown Salt Lake City and everybody was pointing at the big truck. I thought it was the perfect tribute to a family guy.

Something interesting is that every speaker, coincidently, have chosen the same scripture to descrive him: Moroni 7 in the Book of Mormon that talks about on charity.

(47) “But ^acharity is the pure ^blove of Christ, and it endureth ^cforever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.”