UPDATED: February 2024 – See recent comments
There are a couple of different accounts of Grampa’s passing. Hazel Eady passed along, in a 1992 letter, that the gossip was out there, that Grampa confessed on his death bed that he did not have his “proper name”.
So while the “death bed” confession as been de-bunked, a confession did take place on the eve of Aunt Edna’s and Uncle Cliff’s wedding.
Then there’s my brother’s memory of what he heard:
Grandpa died with his pants halfway pulled up. He was getting dressed in the morning and didn’t finish. (Guess it could have been when he went to bed or in the middle of the night too) So he was sitting on the edge of his bed and fell backwards on the bed. Didn’t even bump his head. Edna went up to see why he had not come down at his usual time. She found him dead laying on his back halfway in the bed with his pants half way on. I think Edna already knew something wasn’t right anyway.
Hi. What your brother remembers is exactly what my grandmother (Edna) told me happened. There was no deathbed confession. Grampa Smith said goodnight to our dog (staying with Edna and Cliff) befor he went to bed. It was unusual and Edna told me she thought something was going to happen that night.
Thanks so much for posting this.
Wayne also remembers being a pallbearer which I know he felt very honoured to do as he said “there were so many to choose from.” Carol’s memory “going to Aunt Edna’s for a visit with Mom and Dad [the morning after he passed]. We were told Grandpa had died and that someone was coming to confirm he had passed and then they took him out of the house ( not through the living room, which is where we were sitting ) I was pregnant with Tim . They had gone up when he didn’t come down for breakfast and found him .”