Quint's Funeral

Since mom wants to know and Georgia couldn't stay, I thought I would re-cap Quint's funeral. Quint liked to dress colorfully. Some of my favorites were his penguin tie and his all-white shirt with one red pocket. When I talked to his family, I found out that all of Quint's sons and grandsons had raided his closet and were wearing his loud ties, shirts and jackets. One son even had on a pink sports coat. I found out why Quint dressed so colorfully and why he wore penguin ties. His family said he didn't want to go to church in a dark suit and tie and a white shirt and look like all the other penguins. Quint must have gotten a kick out of his family raiding his closet in his honor.

The first speaker was Gordon - Quint's brother. He gave the life sketch. Gordon said that he was the oldest, then Quint, then Patricia, then Russell. They lived in Salt Lake City until they lost their house due to the Great Depression. Their family moved to Idaho and lived on their uncle's farm for a while. Their mother was a nurse and she got a job before their dad did - in Walla Walla, Washington. They lived there 3-4 years until their dad was able to get a job, then they moved back to Salt Lake City. They were able to buy back the very house they had lost years earlier.

Gordon said that Quint was always the favorite and he could prove it. When Gordon got engaged, he brought his girlfriend home to announce his engagement. When Russell heard the news, he looked at Gordon's girlfriend and said, "You're going to marry him? You could wait a few years and marry Quint. Quint's a lot better." Sad. I can't believe Gordon would tell that story. In spite of it all, Quint and Gordon got along. Gordon said, "Quint was everything you could want in a brother."

Three of Quintin's grandchildren and his one and only daughter spoke. They all told funny stories about Quint. They told about how Quint loved to cook and would make his family dinner and "brekkie" when they would come to visit him. One grandson said that Quint would set the table days in advance when he invited people over for dinner. It wasn't normal table setting, it was more like you were going to the circus. Instead of glasses, he would have glass jars or pitchers. Instead of silverware, he would have salad tongs or wooden forks. When his grandkids would try to re-set the table with normal silverware, he wouldn't let them. He made them eat with the weird utensils on the table.

Another grandson said Quint added something unexpected to almost everything he cooked. Once when he was cooking a pot roast, he looked through the fridge for something to add to it. He found a jar of jelly and started putting big spoonfuls of jelly over the pot roast. "Grandpa, what are you doing?!" his grandson asked. "Shut up and eat it!" Quint said. So they did. And it was good.

Quint's daughter, Kris, said he would call her up and ask her what "soss" would go with the meat he was cooking. Apparently there were some words in the English language he liked to massacre. Kris was never his "daughter" she was his "dawhta."

His grandkids said he had a playhouse out in his backyard. When they came over, he would go out and play house or dolls or whatever the grandkids wanted to play. He would even let them put his hair up in little pigtails all over his head and paint his toenails.

Quint loved to go dirt-biking. His family was relieved when they finally converted him over to riding a quad, but he still drove crazy. He'd go up all the steep hills and tip his quad and do things his full-grown sons were scared to do. Quint told his family he wanted to die on a quad with a big smile on his face. They were relieved that didn't happen.

The last person to talk was Quint's Stake President. Eighteen years ago, the Stake President was Quint's Bishop and Quint was the first counselor. The Bishop/Stake President was long-winded and their meetings would go on for hours. Quint always told him to "keep it short." Apparently that didn't work. Once Quint got to the Bishop's office first before a meeting. He had a big tray with a two pound salami and some really strong cheese on it. By the end of the meeting, they'd eaten all the cheese and salami, but the room stunk for the next two weeks.

Quint's favorite calling was being a Primary Teacher. A few years ago the Stake President called Quint into his office and called him to be a High Councilor. Quint told him, "No." The Stake President almost fainted from shock, because that was not like Quint. "It's really not that bad," the Stake President told him. Quint looked at him and said, "I want to stay a Primary Teacher for the rest of my life. I've been on a mission to Finland and a mission to Austrailia and I feel like I didn't convert anyone, but I feel like I'm converting these kids. I'm making a difference." With that explanation, the Stake President told him he could be a Primary Teacher the rest of his life. "Don't release me," Quint said. And they didn't - even after he died.

Quint loved the Primary kids and they loved him. The Primary sang a song at his funeral. There must have been 30 or 40 kids up on the stand singing for Quint. I imagine he loved that.

This is an aside by me: Sometimes at work I would hear Quint whistling songs - usually they were Primary Songs or Hymns. I wonder if he even realized he was doing that. Once he asked me if I had a dog. I looked at him weird and said, "Yes, why?" "Because you talk to yourself a lot," he said. Later that week I caught him talking to himself and pointed it out to him. "Of course I talk to myself," he said. "When I talk to myself I know I'm going to get an intelligent answer." I had to agree with him.

At the very end of the funeral, when the pallbearers were taking the casket out, the organist was playing "Quentin's Theme." Apparently Quint heard it years ago on a tv or radio show - I think it had something to do a with a superhero? I can't remember what they said the name of the show was. When Quint heard the name of the song, he said, "That's the song they have to play at the end of my funeral." So they did. It was much more somber of a song than I thought it would be. Fitting for funeral, I guess. I would have forgot that's the song they were playing, but Steve leaned over to me and whispered, "Quentin's Theme," and I remembered.

After the funeral, I had to tell Steve the story about Georgia taking Quint to the hospital several times when he was sick. Georgia went to pick up Quint and the nurse (or someone) asked, "Oh, are you related to Quintin? Are you his granddaughter?" Georgia started to answer when Quint piped up and said, "She's my mistress." (If I told that wrong, you can correct me, Georgia.) I told his sons about it later and they just nodded and said that their dad having a mistress was a long running joke. They'd tell him that's why he went on so many business trips to Montana.

After the funeral, I made David drive past the cemetary so I would know where to find Quint's grave. Quint's grave is just across the walkway from David's parents' graves. That's convenient. David laughed when I told him I wanted to see Quintin's grave. I said why are you laughing? Because his last name is "Graves"? Yes. Silly David.

So, there you have it. Quintin's wonderful funeral. Oh, and there were so many people there to talk to Quint's family that the funeral started at 11:20, not 11:00 like it was scheduled to. There were lots of people there. The entire chapel was full and half of the gym. One grandson summed up Quint the best: "Quint lived in his own little world and everyone was invited. The thing is, once you went in to his world, you never wanted to leave."