“Their love, and the bond between them, was so special and unique.”
How did they meet?
Friends for as long as her daughter Misty can remember, Lois and John turned to one another later in life. "It was when they had both lost someone and were grieving that they turned to each other simply for comfort and friendship," she confided. "But then they realized that they didn't want to go through the rest of their life without someone special by their side–and so their friendship turned into something awesome. I'd never seen my mom so happy; I think the ten years they were married were the happiest in her whole life."
Tell us about their life together.
"They loved to travel," shares Misty. "They were traveling buddies, and had their little map and they would 'pin' all the places they had been. John loved history, and he really loved anything new and exciting. And mom loved sharing new and exciting things with him. I think they would both be really thrilled with the idea of traveling in these lofty winds; and so pleased that they took this–his first flight–together."
What is their most precious lesson? "
That's easy," Misty declared. "Family is Everything"
And, she told us, they really 'walked the talk': whenever they had to, they would each take on the roles of peacemaker and mediator. "If there was someone in the family not talking for some odd reason; they would intervene and talk to both of them, get them to work it out. Both of them honestly felt that, at the end of the day, your family is your family. You should love them no matter what; you need to help them get through whatever they're going through. Family was the most important thing to both of them.
"I think that's what made their love so strong; it's because when John and my mom got together, he wasn't really close to his siblings. He had strayed from them. And my mom brought him back to his family. That meant the world to his siblings, it meant the world to him; he was so grateful that he got those last ten years back with his family, he reunited with everybody. It became so important to him and so important to her; that no matter what, we're family, we love each other, we help each other through thick and thin."
Misty, a wife and loving mother of three children; seems to have learned this lesson well. "Do all things in love," is the footnote in her email messages. "Sending their co-mingled ashes into the upper reaches of near space, where they will travel for who knows how long, and who knows how far; just seemed so right. What an adventure! It makes me smile every time I think about it." Certainly done in love, we think John and Lois would be more than pleased with her decision–they'd be delighted.