A good friend of ours was killed in a car accident last week. Retha Wengert was 76 years young and is the mother of Trishell Merayo. Gordon and Trishell are a couple of our best friends. We survived vet school together. Retha would come up to Pullman for lengthy visits and we became quite close to her. Even though we haven't seen her since vet school graduation, we have had many phone conversations with her and she always made us feel like part of her family.
Retha had been over in Arizona helping Gordon and Trishell with their kids. Their daughter Chalee had broken her arm the week before, and a few days later, their son Bramen had his appendix removed. Retha was on her way to church with 4 of her grandkids who live near Gordon & Trish when the accident happened.
When we heard of her passing, our first thought was to find a place for the kids to stay for a couple days and buy plane tickets. When we realized that wasn't very feasaible (plane tickets were over $500 a piece!) we kind of decided we wouldn't be able to go- traveling that far in a car with 3 kids did not sound appealing! Then our friends Paul and Joni Haderlie and their little boy Sam decided they wanted to go, so all 8 of us stuffed in our suburban and away we went. It was a 14-15 hour drive from our house in Grand View, Idaho to Bluewater, New Mexico. We left Thursday night and went as far as Salt Lake where we stayed at Joni's parents house. Then we went the rest of the way on Friday. We were able to spend some time with Trishell's family on Friday night. The family had all gathered at her brother's house in Bluewater. The funeral was Saturday morning. It was a beautiful service. Gordon played his guitar and sang "The Garden" while his son Bramen accompanied on violin. It was beautifully done. There were so many people at the funeral- it was very apparent that Retha had touched the lives of many people and was loved by all she met.
Randall, Gordon & Paul
After spending some more time with Gordon and Trishell, we headed back. We made it to Cortez, Colorado Saturday night and stayed in a dumpy motel that night. (Note to self: don't leave the hotel choice up to 2 cheap husbands. i.e. Randall and Paul). Sunday morning we drove through Mesa Verde National Park, a neat archealogical site of the ancestral Pueblo people and their cliff dwellings. It was really neat.
A view from a lookout point at Mesa Verde
Mom & Lainee
The whole family
Carson, Cooper, Randall & Lainee
Carson
Lainee
Joni, Sam & Paul
Cooper
We stopped in Moab, Utah for lunch, and we were hoping to drive through Arches National Park, but the exit was the entrance, and we decided we didn't have time for the loop.
We didn't get home until 2 am Monday morning. It was a long drive and a quick trip, but well worth it. Thanks for all the memories Retha! We'll never forget playing Settlers of Catan at Gordon and Trishell's little apartment in Pullman, Washington. Gordon was always trying to cheat, and he was trying to get Retha to do something without the rest of us knowing. All of a sudden Retha froze and got this strange look on her face. She burst out "Gordon's grabbing my leg and I don't know what to do!" It was sooooo funny!
We love you Gordon, Trishell, Braman, Jadee, Chalee, Natalie and Shad! Can't wait to see you in August!
Minutes before we were leaving New Mexico, Cooper was playing tag with some kids outside. All of a sudden I heard this scream. I ran outside and found Cooper crying. He said he hit his head on the horse trailer. He had his WSU Cougar hat on and when I looked at him I couldn't see anything. I started to tell him he was ok, then he took his hat off and blood started running everywhere! He had a big gash on his forehead. He probably could have used stitches, but we were quite a ways from a hospital. Randall didn't have any supplies or he could have probably done it. As it was, we had to drive 20 miles to even find butterfly bandages. It seems to be healing up ok, though.
