My deepest heartfelt sympathy to you and your family on the loss of your Dad. I have only the fondest memories of Uncle John. I know I have not seen or spoke with him since I was a child, but he was always in my thoughts. This comes to my mind when I think of what he would be saying right now: “Death is nothing at all. It does not count. I have only slipped away into the next room. Nothing has happened. Everything remains exactly as it was. I am I, and you are you, and the old life that we lived so fondly together is untouched, unchanged. Whatever we were to each other, than we are still. Call me by the old familiar name. Speak of me in the easy way which you always used. Put no difference into your tone. Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow. Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes that we enjoyed together. Play, smile, think of me, pray for me. Let my name be ever the household word that it always was. Let it be spoken without an effort without the ghost of a shadow upon it. Life means all that is ever meant. It is the same as it ever was. There is absolute and unbroken continuity. What is this death but a negligible accident? Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight? I am but waiting for you, for an interval, somewhere very near, just round the corner. All is well!”
~Canon Henry Scott-Holland, 1847-1918, Canon of St Paul's Cathedral~
Sincerely, Carrie (Faller) Andrews