Grandpa McCluggage's Funeral

We re-arranged our schedule and headed back out to Kansas to be with family for my sweet Grandpa's funeral.

Ella was tuckered out from all the traveling.

Aunt Angie brought her little poodle mix along and Ella had fun playing with both the dog AND the kennel. :) ( I'll keep this method in mind . . . . )

Jim "Grandpa" McCluggage

Douglass – McCluggage, James “Jim”, 84, retired rural mail carrier died Tue. Aug. 17, 2010. Visitation 1pm-8pm with family present from 6pm-8pm today at Hilyard-Smith Funeral Home. Funeral service 2pm Fri. Aug. 20, 2010 at the Douglass Church of Christ. Preceded in death by his parents, one son, Jimmy and brothers Melvin and Pete. Survivors include: wife, Merlene, daughter, Janice (Gary) Northam, son, Mark (Christy), daughter-in-law, Angie McCluggage, sisters, Marciele Hicks (Leslie), Madge Lewis (Claude), Marilyn Allen (Jimmy), 9 grandchildren, and 16 great grandchildren. Jim was the son of Francis John McCluggage and Estella McCune McCluggage. He was born and raised on the McCluggage farm south of Rose Hill. He attended school at Rose Hill and helped his father on the farm. He served in the Navy during WWII. He was a former elder at Rose Hill and Douglass Churches of Christ. Memorials may be made to the Douglass Church of Christ Children’s Department, Carpenter Place, 1501 N. Meridan, Wichita; and Cancer Center of Kansas, 700 W. Central, El Dorado, KS. Send condolences via smithfamilymortuaries.com

My cousin Collette was there for the funeral also, and brought her sweet little girl, Jenna, who is just a few months younger than Ella. Ella saw her and immediately ran up to her, gave her a big hug, and took her by the hand and led her ALL AROUND. Jenna was a bit overwhelmed at first, but they had alot of fun together.

The next day we visited the work-place of another cousin of mine. He let us tour around his pottery/sculpting studio. While he was giving my sister (also very into pottery making) lots of insider tips, we took Ella outside to play in the playground. There was a really neat play airplane that rocked back and forth and held several. Daddy had fun flying it as well (he hasn't been able to fly a real airplane for quite a while.)

Later that afternoon, my sister, David, Ella, and I made a trip to cowtown in Wichita. It is a huge town museum made to look like an old west town.

We sat in on a lesson by the school marm.

We rode the wagon around the town.

We watched a gun fight and toured lots of really neat old buildings. We all had a really nice afternoon!

A few more pictures of Ella and Jenna playing.

Good grief, Ella looks 8 years old in this picture.

Reading with Aunt Heather.

A sad visit, but so nice to have some additional quality family time.