Show of respect

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OLDE CUTLER
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Show of respect

Post by OLDE CUTLER »

I was at a funeral on Monday for my cousin. The service was at a small town funeral home and the burial was at a rural cemetery about 15 miles from town. When the procession traveled down the gravel road and got to the cemetery, the gravesite was right next to the road. As we are all standing there and the graveside service is taking place, I looked to the east down the gravel road and saw that there was a road grader with the blade down coming towards us about a half mile away. I could also see that with the wind coming from the south and us being right next to the road, that there was going to be a problem when the grader passed our location. My cousins husband was performing the graveside service and was wearing a black suit, another cousin standing next to me was also, and several of the women present wore black dresses. I had not worn a suit because it was over 90 degrees that day. I was thinking to myself what action we should take when the motor grader past close to us to avoid the thick dust cloud, when the motor grader stopped his machine about 50 yards from us and sat there until the service was finished. Wow, what a show of respect by that operator! When the service was done after 6 or 7 minutes, the funeral director motioned him to continue, which he did at a snails pace to not raise any more dust than necessary. Virtually the whole funeral party gave him a salute or tip of the hat for his effort. The kind of thing you don't see often nowdays.
"Sometimes even the blind chicken finds corn"
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bighomer
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Re: Show of respect

Post by bighomer »

Around here in the smaller counties when funeral processions pass by people still pull to the side of the road and take their hats off. It doesn't surprise me at bit that a road grader operator would do such, most all of that I knew back in the day was good ole boys. What surprises me is the gravel road, ain't been one around here in years. We do still have a couple of graders, they are used to remove snow when we have some lay around for a week or so. That don't happen very often. ::handshake::
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treefarmer
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Re: Show of respect

Post by treefarmer »

There are still some good hearted folks in this old world, OLDE CUTLER. Thanks for sharing that with the forum. ::handshake::
Most folks around here still pull over when we meet a funeral procession on the highway. Most of those that whiz by are from another state headin' to the beach. When I first started working for the school board back in '74, my little boss man was from a place that didn't seem to recognize what respectful folks do when encountering a funeral procession. He finally figured it out. Riding in a procession it was always refreshing to see folks standing by the street or road with their hat or cap over their heart.
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OLDE CUTLER
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Re: Show of respect

Post by OLDE CUTLER »

bighomer wrote: Thu Jun 17, 2021 2:25 pm Around here in the smaller counties when funeral processions pass by people still pull to the side of the road and take their hats off. It doesn't surprise me at bit that a road grader operator would do such, most all of that I knew back in the day was good ole boys. What surprises me is the gravel road, ain't been one around here in years. We do still have a couple of graders, they are used to remove snow when we have some lay around for a week or so. That don't happen very often. ::handshake::
I think if one could calculate the miles of road in South Dakota, the vast majority of them would be gravel. Virtually all rural roads are gravel with the main arteries being hard surface. Many of the small towns have gravel streets, except for maybe Main St. I have been in funeral processions where cars from the other direction don't even slow down, and sometimes cars going the same direction pass the hearse and procession. I can recall getting into it with a fellow about this and he said "there ain't no state law that says I have to". He is right, but there is a thing called respect of which he knows nothing.
"Sometimes even the blind chicken finds corn"
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1967redrider
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Re: Show of respect

Post by 1967redrider »

Nice to read that there are people out there who still have common sense and respect. ::tu::
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KLJ77
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Re: Show of respect

Post by KLJ77 »

Great story of respect, OC. I can only imagine the concern of that situation everyone was thinking...what a mess that would have been. Kudos to that grader operator. a GREAT show / display of respect for you all.
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Re: Show of respect

Post by Samb »

Around these parts if you don't pull over for a funeral you could get a ticket.
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Colonel26
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Re: Show of respect

Post by Colonel26 »

Here we do just as BigH described. Kudos to the grader operator he sounds like a fine feller.

I can’t imagine not stopping for a funeral procession.
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cudgee
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Re: Show of respect

Post by cudgee »

There are still lot's of good people out there. And, you can't buy class. ::handshake::
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rea1eye
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Re: Show of respect

Post by rea1eye »

Thanks for the post O.C. I got a good feeling reading this.

Bob
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Dan In MI
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Re: Show of respect

Post by Dan In MI »

This is exactly the sort of story that needs to be told more frequently. Many individuals would do well to take a lesson or two from the grader operator.
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