Final Resting

It's been some time since I posted anything. Last week I went to NYC and College Park. Thursday night was a concert by ARTEK in memory of my Aunt Liddy. Afterwards a small reception was held up at my Uncle's apartment. Saw many old friends including Rob, Chris, Mary, and Gibb which was very nice.

On Friday, April 20th, Ned drove me down to College Park in time to shower and change for Moody's funeral. About 200 people attended the 6:30pm service. It was very wonderful with a bagpiper, all my favorite hymns, homages to Moody, and a lovely reception engineered by Betsy Bindschadler. Mary Gawlik and Mary Marshall did the flowers for the church and reception. After the church service (which lasted about 1.5 hours), the congregation, clergy, and choir went out to the courtyard for the internment and the piper played Amazing Grace. There were lots of family, friends, and former fellow parishoners in attendence including about 20 of my relatives, 13 former colleagues from NCHS, the former rector who followed Moody, Karla Woggon, and several of Moody's former clergy colleagues, and of course his two best friends, Waite and Ted and their wives (Christine and Deborah). Folks seemed to enjoy the slide show Mary Laurel put together and the Moody Book.   Carol Jablonski presided and gave a nice homily for Moody  (you have to scroll down to see it).  Waite's remarks can be found on the links at the left.  In addition to ML, Robert, and myself, the funeral was attended by 8 Fergusons, 3 Wilsons, 2 Guihers, 2 Chamblees, 4 Browns, and 1 Terry.  Afterwards ML, Robert, Molly, Ned, Mal, Charles, and I were treated to dinner at Ledo's by John-Mac.

Final resting place for Moody's cremains at the St. Andrew's columbarium

Ned and John-Mac at Ledo's

Saturday, Ned, Don, Mal, Charles and I went down to Jaleo for lunch. It has changed its format to become more of a sports bar but still serving tapas. No more free bread and olive oil. While the food was still yummy, I think I will remove it from my "must do" list when in DC. We then went up to Baltimore to enjoy family and dinner at ML and Robert's home.
 
Sunday morning was the baptism of Kirby and Ryan's daughter, Cameron. She is such a cutie. I got to spend some quality time with her as well as Mary and Rudy at Kirby's home. Sunday evening, Don, Kathy, and I went to have dessert with Frank and Susan Gervasi. We all jointly mourned Moody's death as well as Susan's daughter, Marisa, who died from a tragic accident a few weeks before Moody. They had a little memorial set up in their home to Marisa exactly like the one I had here for Moody. Marisa's cremains are still there whereas, Moody's are now in the College Park.

Cameron's Baptism with proud parents and grandparents

Cameron and me

Charles, Kathy, Don, and Mal

Robert and Mary Laurel

Da girls and I returned home Monday to find our rose garden in bloom.  We are grateful to Don and Kathy who put us up for 5 nights and took such good care of Zoe and Zelda.  I also dumped the dogs on Mary Lou and Anne who kept them while I talked with Carol about the service on Wednesday afternoon.  It's good to be home and last night was the first night in over a month that I did not have to use a sleeping pill to get to sleep.

Life After....

Mary Laurel and Robert moved some furniture around so that things wouldn't look the same since things were never going to be the same.  We moved Moody's desk to the bedroom and reclaimed the breakfast nook for eating.  In the bedroom, Robert and ML painted the walls and rearranged the furniture to make an excellent guest room.  I will take over the former guest room as my bedroom.

Redone breakfast nook

Moody's cremains

Greensboro - Forest Lawn Cemetery

Mary Laurel, Zoe, Zelda, and I drove up to Greensboro on Friday to  bury some of Moody's ashes between his parents' graves.  He wished to be buried there but we chose to put his cremains at St. Andrew's Church.  We have received many nice cards, letters, food, flowers, etc.  Folks clearly loved Moody.  My neighbors, June and Eric, were very kind to walk the girls twice a day for several days to give Mary Laurel and me time to deal with all the final affairs.

My neighbor, Maarten, made me this beautiful and sturdy computer table to replace the folding one that jarred every time I printed something.  He stained it to match my desk and made it to fit exactly in the allowable space.  Pretty nice neighbor, huh!

Augustus Moody Burt III (1935-2012)

AUGUSTUS MOODY BURT III

The Rev. Augustus Moody Burt III, age 76, of Pittsboro, NC died March 23rd at his home after a short recurrence of lymphoma. He was born and raised in Greensboro, received his BA from Washington & Lee University ('56) and his M.Div. from Virginia Theological Seminary ('59). His ministry involved Episcopal parishes in North Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland. He served 24 years as Rector of St. Andrew’s Church in College Park, MD retiring in 1997.

The funeral will be held at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in College Park on April 20th at 6:30 PM.

Surviving are his widow, Catharine Wilson Burt; daughter, Mary Laurel Burt; and son-in-law, Robert Bilek, currently residing in Baltimore, MD.

1935

With his father ~ 1940

Oh coat! 1937

~1938

At Waite's birthday party ~1947

In front of Country Club Apartments ~1948

W & L grad 1956

VTS grad 1959

Wedding with Terry, 1965

Xmas 1970

Cooking, 1971

Playing banjo, 1973

In front of St. Andrew's Church 1973

Installation at St. Andrew's with Tom Engram, 1973

~1975

Wedding with Cathy, 1980

Mary Laurel's Baptsim, 1983

Alagash ~ 1985

With Emma Griffin, 1981

In the Sinai Desert, 1989

With Cathy, 1991

In Nantucket, ~1994

Mini-golf in Nantucket, 1994

In St. John, 2006

At ML's MICA graduation, 2005

With pupppies, Zoe and Zelda in NC, 2008

At ML & Robert's wedding, 2011

With Dr. Park at UNC Cancer Hospital, 2010

With Molly, March 18, 2012 (last picture)

The Washington Post published an obituary in the Sunday April 1 edition:

A. Moody Burt III, Episcopal priest

Published: April 1, 2012

A. Moody Burt III, an Episcopal priest who was rector of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in College Park for more than 20 years, died March 23 at his home in Pittsboro, N.C. He was 76.

He had lymphoma, said his wife, Catharine Burt.

The Rev. Burt first moved to the Washington area in 1969 and was the assistant minister of St. George’s Church in Arlington County. He became the rector of St. Andrew’s in 1973 and retired in 1997.

In the late 1980s, Rev. Burt helped establish a “safe haven” program in Prince George’s County, in which a network of local churches opened their doors to the homeless during the winter months. Today, more than 60 churches are involved in the effort.

Augustus Moody Burt III was a native of Greensboro, N.C., and a 1956 graduate of Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Va. He received a master’s degree in divinity from the Virginia Theological Seminary in 1959.

He served in churches in North Carolina before moving to the Washington region. He retired to North Carolina from Lanham in 2008.

His first marriage, to the former Theresa Gudger, ended in divorce.

Survivors include his wife of 31 years, Catharine Wilson Burt of Pittsboro; and a daughter from his second marriage, Mary Laurel Burt of Baltimore.

Visit by Molly

Molly and her friend, Lauren, came by for lunch today with Lauren's 2 month old baby, Virginia.  I think Virginia is the first baby to visit.  We had some of Robert's salmon cakes which were delicious. Moody was up and joined us for ice cream.

Found 4-leaf clover

I found this while walking the dogs - hope it means good luck.  We were lucky this past weekend in many ways.  We had a great visit with Mary Laurel, Robert, and Georgia last weekend. Mary Laurel and Robert were so helpful in getting us ready for what feels like a coming seige.  Robert brought us some pulled pork, lumpia, and empenadas; and then made us some salmon cakes and pork/chorizo burgers which he froze.  Mary Laurel helped me develop a schedule for when home health folks could visit and figured out how I can order my groceries on line so I only have to go and pick them up at Harris Teeter: Pretty Cool!  We received some lovely flowers from one of our neighbors, and tulips from the Shorts, and our favorite Girl Scout cookies from Don and Kathy.  Folks have been real thoughtful and supportive.  There's more in the cancer blog about Hospice and other caregivers.  We are looking forward to a visit by Molly and her friends next Sunday.

Comfort and courage

We got the word that Moody's lymphoma is back with a vengeance and his doctor has ordered up Hospice care to see him to the end.  We will try to keep him at home as long as we can, but his increasing dementia may may that difficult.  There is more info on the cancer blog.

Sunday

Moody's was up several times in the night dressed and packing to "go home".  This morning I couldn't find him and he was in the car with the blinkers on.  He doesn't have a key, but scary nonetheless.  He didn't want to see "that woman" which is me.  He was willing to go to church this morning at our neighbor's church, Chapel in the Pines.  And we both enjoyed the service very much.  The sermon was about "home", not a building but a place of peace with God.  Most apprapo!