Goodbye to Great Grandpa Kohler

Anna's Great-Grandpa Kohler (or "Old Herbie" as he referred to himself) passed away January 24 at age 98. Anna and her parents traveled to Ohio to attend the funeral.

Death is a difficult concept for adults to grasp let alone children - leaving Joe and Theresa pondering ways to explain it to Anna without frightening her. In the end, they opted for the direct approach which often works best with Anna. Anna studied the casket and great-grandpa very closely and asked several questions about sleeping and heaven. The questions are likely to continue for a while, but really - who ever stops questioning these topics?

The side benefit of a funeral is the chance to see a lot of family members - many of whom have not been together since the last funeral. Anna had a great time with with her cousin Aidyn. Well, she had a great time with cousin Aidyn's train set while staying at Uncle Tim's house. When cousin Aidyn came onto the scene it was more like brother and sister rather than buddies ("Mom - Aidyn's touching me." "Grandma - Aidyn took my game," etc...).

Anna & family headed back to Virginia after the funeral in an attempt to beat the massive winter storm that was moving into Ohio. It is somehow a fitting end to Great Grandpa's funeral as he was the consumate farmer weather watcher.

In the meantime, great grandpa will be missed very much. He always enjoyed seeing Anna and often compared himself to her when she was little - "we both need to have someone take care of us - the only difference is she will become more independent" he would say. He was also convinced that Anna (or Annie as he liked to call her) was named after his sister Anna. Anna was lucky to get to meet him and will hopefully have some good memories of her visits with him.