Lawrence and Caroline are both in their mid-80s and were never able to have children.
We really wanted their house. It seemed like the right place for us. They had already been negotiating with someone else, so after a few weeks, Caroline called and told us that they sold it to someone else. Little did we know that just a couple weeks later, we found a different house with 60 acres that was the perfect house for us.
Back to the Cahoons. It was no coincidence that we met them. We went to visit them about once a month for the next two years. I took them food sometimes. Sometimes I just stopped to say hi. A few months ago, Lawrence's health declined and he was taken in for long-term care. We went to visit him at the rest home as often as we could. He was mostly sleeping, but he knew he were and would answer our questions.
Someone called us the afternoon he passed away, and Austin and I went to see Caroline.
Lawrence didn't want a funeral, just a graveside service. Caroline asked Austin to conduct the service and to dedicate the grave.
It was a cold, windy January afternoon. Lawrence's nephew suggested that they dedicate the grave and then go to the church for the rest of the service. So Austin welcomed everyone, did a really nice prayer for the grave dedication, and then all of the people went to the Leavitt Chapel. The chapel was full. There were hutterites, family members, friends, etc. There were people who hadn't set foot inside a chapel for years. They had a song and a few thoughts from the nephew. Then our ward had a luncheon and all those people stayed for the luncheon. It was a miracle that they had enough food.
If we hadn't met the Cahoons, they would not have asked the Bishop to come to the funeral. They would likely just have had the funeral home conduct the service.
Caroline told Kim Weston that they had never had a bishop come to their house before. I am so glad that Austin was the Bishop who went to visit the Cahoons.
