Dick's memorial in Reno was spread out over two days. On Monday we had the church service, a funeral mass at Our Lady of the Snows, which was his parish church in Dick's neighborhood, one of the nicer older districts of Reno.
Dick had sung in the choir for years there, and knew Father Chuck, who celebrated the funeral mass, for many decades, going back to when Dick's kids and later grandkids went to the adjoining Catholic School.
It was a beautiful mass. Afterwards we gathered again for a reception at the Western Interpretative Center of Barnes Ranch on the south side of Reno, where Dick's son in law, the remaining patriarch of the clan, had rented the center and had it catered. It was a splendid event, and I got to spent much time getting to know my second cousins--Dick's grand-kids. They are "youngsters" as I called them, in their twenties. I told them stories about our great-grandfather--Dick's father.
One of Dick's grandson's had spoken at the memorial about his wonderful memories going up to Virginia City with Dick. They were warm, fun memories, and so after the reception, with the light still good, I drove up over the summit into the mountains to that old mining tone, now a tourist destination, where the wind comes out the dry, cold interior basin of Nevada. I found myself exploring the museum in the basement of St. Mary's of the Mountains, which was the first Catholic Church in Nevada, I think, and was the center of Nevada Catholicism for many decades.
The interior of the church itself was very nice as well. I bought a candle for Dick at the gift shop and lit it on the way out.
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