SAYING GOODBYE

We flew to Chicago on August 26th. We were heading to Milwaukee, WI for my brother Raymond's Memorial Service which was being put on my his Theater family. The direct flight worked out well and then we drove from O'Hare to Milwaukee. This way we didn't have to change planes, go through another airport and the flight was just 4 hours. 

On our way to Milwaukee we stopped in Gilbert, IL and visited with Mark's brother Jimmy and his wife Caprice, along with their dog Rosie. It was such a great visit. I think we hung with them for over 3 hours. 

My sister Darcy, brother in law Bob and my niece Michele arrived that evening. Then my great niece arrived at midnight. It was so nice seeing them. We had a great visit and even though the situation was not a happy occasion we had a lot of laughs. On Friday they drove to Illinois to visit my Mom and Dad at the cemetery. 

On Friday afternoon Mark and I meet with his attorney. This man has done an amazing job. Yes he was paid to do it but we could never have cleaned out his apartment which he did. He even washed some clothes before my brother passed away and brought them to the hospital. 

He went through every single thing, saved the important paperwork, took everything that was good to Goodwill and arranged for the furniture to be donated. 

He had taken pictures throughout the house for us to see in case there were things that we wanted. That is what he brought to us at the hotel when we meet with him. He arranged the whole Memorial too. 

I can't thank him enough. He actually did not charge an attorney fee because he knew these were things that anyone could have done, so it was a smaller amount. (I sent him a gift card to Fleming's)

The Memorial was at a bar where the theater performers would go after a play. My brother was a director in the local theaters. It was held from 2 to 4 pm on Saturday and the attorney had also saved a lot of things to bring so that people could take what they wanted. It turned our really well. 

The women who spoke....

Mark and my brother in law Bob....

My sister Darcy, attorney Mark, great niece Amanda 

and my niece Michele. 

I wish I would have taped the women who spoke. I have to say, my brother was loved and admired by his theater family. This is a life he barely shared with us. I can't tell you how many people came up to us and shared the fact that Raymond gave them their first part ever in a play. 

We now feel so much better knowing that he wasn't lonely or without friends. The hardest part for him was the pandemic and not being able to socialize. His social life when plays were not going on was going to a bar each night. Spending all of this time alone really took its toll. 

After the Memorial Service we headed to Lake Michigan for his final wishes of having his ashes put in the lake. The attorney knew of a spot that would work and it did. It was a pretty steep hill down to the water so my sister and I stayed at the top where we had a nice view. It was a private moment for us and we both broke down crying. 

This was our view....

My Mark putting his ashes in the lake....

Watching his ashes float away....

His final resting place....

While we were in Milwaukee we had Lou Malnati's pizza, Portillo's, Milwaukee Brat House and a lovely dinner with Darcy and Bob the night before we left at Fleming's besides some other meals. Michele went home on Sunday morning and Amanda went home that afternoon. 

So on Sunday we did a little bit of sightseeing. These were places that Amanda picked out. First up was a Pabst Blue Ribbon historical tour. It was excellent. The history behind PBR drew me in and I thoroughly enjoyed the tour. 

Then we headed to the Harley Davidson Museum.  Darcy and I really were not interested so we sat outside with a nice breeze and talked while Mark, Bob and Amanda did the tour. 

We headed home on Monday. Our flight wasn't until the evening so we headed back to Illinois and visited my Mom and Dad at the cemetery and then we drove around town visiting some of our old stomping grounds. We went to LaGrange, IL and had lunch at Aurellio's pizza which is one of our favorites. Then we headed to O'Hare for our flight. 

Our High School 

Entrance to the Brookfield Zoo 

The back entrance to the zoo was behind our H.S.

House where Mark's dad lived. 

Our house that we lived in, Western Springs, IL.

They changed the color and had an addition.

Both of our flights were good. I was pretty nervous about everything but it turned out okay. Things in Milwaukee are way different then California. Very few people were wearing masks. I wore mine!  There was the scare of Covid-19 and thankfully we tested negative. 

Rest in peace my dear brother...

Raymond Steven Vlcek

9-27-46  -  7-17-21