Funeral Card Friday: Clarence GEBBEN

Funeral card of Clarence Gebben, Grandville, Michigan, citing services on 23 June 1990; DeVries Family Papers, digitized and privately held by Miriam Robbins Midkiff, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Spokane, Washington. This item was passed from the estate of Adrian and Ruth (Hoekstra) DeVries to their granddaughter, Miriam Robbins Midkiff in 2008.

Clarence GEBBEN was married to the sister (Catherine) of my maternal (step) grandfather, Adrian DeVRIES. While I know I met Uncle Clarence on a couple of occasions as a child, I really don't remember him well. I suppose he was a quiet man, and my memories, although still somewhat vague, are more of Aunt Catherine. In my last Funeral Card Friday post, I mentioned that Aunt Catherine made a knitted sweater, cap, and bootie set for my daughter when she was a baby. This would have been in 1990. When I looked at the date of Uncle Clarence's death, I realized that that set was probably made around the time he died. I like to think that knitting the baby things was a comfort to Aunt Catherine during the hard and lonely time when she first was a widow, to help her pass the time.

Thanks to Dee Akard Welborn for this great Friday theme! Dee encourages others to highlight their funeral card collection on the first Friday of each month. Since I have so many, I've decided to highlight mine every Friday.