OurEcho Everyone has a story. What's Yours?

This story and more like it can be found at http://www.ourecho.com/story-1727.shtml

Funeral Coat

Story ID:1727
Written by:Cynthia Jo Ross
Organization:Lens to the Past
Story type:Family History
Writers Conference:$500 2007 Family Memories Writing Project
Location:Towanda KS USA
Year:2007
Person:Me & My Friend
Funeral Coat

It was some time ago that a royal-blue, wool, dress coat came into my possesion. Most likely I got it second hand but it’s been too long ago to remember. I’ve worn it to church, special occasions like weddings and baby showers. This special coat came with an attached matching scarf that added to the warmth on cold blustery days which made it just right for Sunrise services and funerals.

The last couple of years I've worn the coat less because with my added pounds I wasn’t able to button the coat properly. Recently I wore it only because I was desperate, knowing I really needed to buy a new coat.

Last week I wore the coat for the last time, before passing it along to a close friend who needed a coat for a family funeral. The zipper on her coat had broken and she was afraid she might get stuck inside.

Before handing her the coat I emptied the pockets to find five different funeral service memorials tucked inside. Some dated back several years, because I hadn’t the heart to toss them away. Now I’ve placed them in a memory box.

Although the coat is gone, I’m glad it can still be of use to someone else. Surprisingly when I spoke to my friend yesterday, she told me she’d gotten several compliments on her new coat... funny when I’d been thinking it was well past its prime and just another old coat.


OurEcho is a FREE SERVICE dedicated to capturing and sharing the individual "bits and pieces" that define our local communities. It might be a bit of interesting local history, an old photograph, a special memory or just a funny story. We are particularly interested in those fascinating and intriguing events/people (both large and small) that we all encounter as part of the human experience. It might be something that happened recently or something passed down to you through your family. Our goal is to provide a forum for local communities to share who they are through their stories and photographs. When you take the time to share these reflection with others, you help us better understand you, the world we live in, and if we are lucky, they help us better understand ourselves.