Unca Joel

My uncle, Joel Ivan Orgill, passed away on July 7th. He passed away from cancer, and his beautiful wife Lynne is suffering from almost the same kind of cancer. He was such an amazing example to me. He was witty, he was creative, he was a spiritual giant, he was a great leader and he was just fun to be around. His funeral was not your typical funeral. I think I laughed more than I cried and that's how he would've wanted it.

He requested to be buried in a pine box. They brought out sharpies and everyone could write messages on the box. Some of the messages were so touching.

This one from his son Jed was one of my favorites "Return to Sender."

I also liked this one from his son Justin "Contents: World's Greatest Dad!"

The four Orgill brothers.

Joel's family.

After the funeral I felt so inspired to become more like my Unca Joel. I wanted to study the gospel more, I wanted to serve better, and I wanted to develop my creative talents. I think Joel gave me just the push I needed with that last one. I've been meaning to get back into drawing and I've wanted to draw a picture of Stockton. But, I lost all my art supplies when we moved. So I was determined to go buy more, but hadn't gotten around to it, because they are expensive. Well, the day after Joel's funeral I had the sudden urge to organize my wrapping paper... why on earth would I want to do that?! Well, right in the middle of the Christmas wrapping paper there was a bag, inside the bag were my art supplies! I can't help but thinking that Unca Joel was there, guiding me along.