Day 4 - Funeral Mass & Cremation

In the morning we got the kids changed up. Had some trouble finding something suitable for Cheryl to wear for the funeral ... her wardrobe was mostly cheery pink! Finally I found a long sleeve shirt which just had a little unnoticeable red star. We reached the casket about 10.15am. Since there were no visitors yet and the kids were quite bored, we let the kids play some games with rubber bands near dad's coffin (see pic on the right).

We took turns having lunch at the nearby Lavendar food centre. Isaac was cranky by noon time, which was unusual, and so he took a short nap. Which was just as well, because then he managed to be awake for the whole funeral thingy. At about 1pm, the Franciscan priest from St Mary's, Fr. Jivan, came to say some prayers. At 1.45pm, the coffin was closed and we had a short procession behind hearse before the guests boarded a chartered bus which would bring them to St. Mary of the Angels Church at Bukit Batok. The kids wanted to take the bus, so we allowed them to do so with our maid. Apparently Isaac enjoyed the bus ride (I think that's all he remembered of the funeral).


The rest of us drove in our cars behind the hearse. The Funeral Mass was at 2.30pm. This was my first time at this church since its renovation. I read first reading and responsorial psalm while my cousin did the rest. Unfortunately TT didn't manage to take any photos at the church. After the funeral service, again we followed the hearse a short way along the driveway as if we were sending my dad off somewhere. Again the kids took the bus while the rest of us drove to Mandai Crematorium. This is like one big excursion for them!

This was my first time at Mandai Crematorium. Everything was very clean, automated and efficient. Almost impersonal. We had a short service and thereafter guests were allowed to put flowers into the coffin before they closed it for the last time. We were then led to the viewing gallery where we could see the coffin being trolleyed automatically towards the furnace. We said prayers as the coffin proceeded slowly. This was certainly less dramatic than having people heaving and shoving the coffin into the incinerator at the old crematorium at Mt. Vernon. So this is it... this is how it all ends...

The chartered bus was going back to Lavendar Street, so Isaac was disappointed that he could not take the bus back. On the way back home the kids were tired and took a nap. Later we all had a dinner of pizza at our place. That night we finally managed to get a good rest, but poor TT had gotten a cough and runny nose from all the running around, lack of sleep and funeral palour air con...