Report on Ray Crookston by Clark Crookston

January 15, 2009

Dear Family,

Brenda and I visited Dad today and I was able to give him a blessing of comfort. We also talked with the hospice nurse who said that Dad is now down to 114 pounds. He is loosing weight more rapidly now. Unless he has some good days with his regular days I really don't believe that Dad will have more than two to four weeks left in this life, but he could surprise us all and stay longer. Several of you have visited Dad recently. It was nice to see so many of the family at the pot luck this last Sunday. If there are any of you who still want to visit Dad before the funeral, you should plan to come as soon as you can.

The hospice nurse is in regular contact with me. She said that she would let me know when Dad is within a couple of days of passing away. The plan is to let everyone know when that time comes. Dad already made funeral arrangements with Berg Mortuary in Provo several years ago. I visited with the mortuary about the arrangements and all is ready. Dad also had his funeral program written out several years ago. I am contacting those of you who he has asked to participate in the program. The funeral will be at the Heatheridge 4th Ward chapel a couple of blocks from my home. I plan to have it on a Friday. I will try to give you a week's notice of the funeral date. Dad asked that we have a BIG family reunion at his funeral, so the next day on Saturday we will do so. I am also planning to hold the reunion at the chapel.

As far a Dad's estate goes he had a $5,000 life policy that I had to spend down on his health care while he was a patient at the Orchard Park Rehabilitation Center in November. There is another life policy that will be used to pay his other hospital bills, pay off care giver expenses, and there will be some additional funeral expenses that are not covered in Dad's original mortuary arrangements. As conservator of Dad’s estate I plan to send each of Dad's living children $2,000 from the second life policy. I plan to send Kay's three children $666 each and Byron's six children $333 each. The life insurance money will not be available to disperse for at least three to four weeks after the insurance company gets a legal copy of Dad's death certificate. What remaining estate money that may be left after the family distributions and all other expenses are paid will be divided among Gail, Kelaine, and Brenda who were Dad and Mom's main care givers. (They all graciously offered to take care of Mom and Dad for a fraction of the cost it would have taken to have Mom or Dad in a long-term care facility.) As far a Dad and Mom's personal belonging, most all of those have already been given or promised to family members. If you have a particular question about any of these arrangements, please contact me NOW. There will be no haggling over the estate after the funeral.

We have all been really blessed to be descendants of Ray and Marvel Crookston. May we continue to live lives that will make them happy to see us all when it is our turn to pass through that veil of death into the eternities beyond.

With love to all of you,
Clark Crookston
(I will update you on Dad’s condition this coming Sunday.)

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