A JOURNEY

Rob
 Very beautiful Mom. I love this image of Dad's body flowing through the places he loved into the Mississippi to the Gulf, and then blending with the oceans he sailed in his youth. Thank you.

On Nov 13, 2017, at 5:37 PM,

Eleanor Clayton wrote:

I arrived home yesterday (Oct 10) at about 6 PM. I drove from Signal Mountain in about 11 hours. The driving was not as tiring as I expected it to be. I was 3 days on the road and 4 days at Joel's. If she had put me to work in the house and the yard I would have stayed longer but she likes to do everything herself in her own way.

Hugh and Alison are going to build a new, larger home on Signal Mountain. Joel plans to build on the lot next to them. She hasn't told many friends about her plans yet but I suppose it is OK to tell family. They will be moving into a new development in which the homes are constructed by the developer. The date construction will begin has not been determined but the streets are built, the lots are cleared and the underground utilities are laid. I think construction will start on their houses in the first half of 2018.

I enjoyed seeing Clemson and Brevard. Some ashes were spread at the cemetery of the Old Stone Church near the house we owned in Clemson. A relative of Larry's was the first pastor in 1797. I also sprinkled ashes in the gardens on the campus. The next morning I drove to Brevard and had a biscuit at the Burger King Dad and I frequented. I them went into the Pisgah Forest of deliver ashes into the creeks whose waters eventually flow into the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico.

I found my way to Joel's house by instinct because I had forgotten highway names and landmarks. That was a long day but everything came together as I hoped it would. During my visit Joel fed me well and we did recollecting. I got to visit with Hugh, Alison and Ethan more than I expected to. I'm glad I renewed those family ties which form the foundation of who I am and how I fit into where I come from.

VICTORY SHIP

SS Cuba Victory

VC2-S-AP3

March 31, 1944

June 27, 1944

August 19, 1944

  Larry on Cuba Victory.

Radio Officer's Cabin of American Victory.

Mark and I visited the American Victory in the Tampa harbor on the way home from the airport yesterday. 

American Victory

American Victory has been upgraded with modern VHF radio and radar (visible on the command deck), and more modern electronics have been added to the electricians' quarters and radio room, but she is generally in her historic form. Her 3-inch bow mounted deck gun is still in place, although demilitarized, as well as the 5-inch stern gun and another 3-inch gun next to it still in place. The mostly volunteer museum "crew" take pride in the fact that she is a fully operational, seaworthy vessel. She usually does about two cruises a year.

Engine Room American Victory

Radio Shack

Lifeboat

Mark Clayton

Larry's ships:

Wood Lake

Sea Dolphin 

Pan York

Drapers Meadow

Cuba Victory

CHRISTMAS 17

Matthew 2

[13] And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him

Songs of Innocence by William Blake

A Cradle Song

“Sleep sleep happy child.
All creation slept and smil'd.
Sleep sleep, happy sleep,
While o'er thee thy mother weep.  

Sweet babe in thy face,
Holy image I can trace.
Sweet babe once like thee,
Thy maker lay and wept for me

Wept for me for thee for all, 
When he was an infant small.
Thou his image ever see,
Heavenly face that smiles on thee.

Smiles on thee on me on all,
Who became an infant small,  
Infant smiles are his own smiles.
Heaven & earth to peace beguiles.”

Visit our blog: http://ramhornd.blogspot.com/or https://sites.google.com/site/blakeprimer/blake-1

Virgin and Child in Egypt by William Blake

from Victoria & Albert Museum, London

 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that 

loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.

  He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

First John 4:7-8

FOREVER GRATEFUL,
Ellie

 

LAST SONG

SLIDING ROCK

PISGAH FOREST, NORTH CAROLINA

From the Bio for the Methodists:

Robert Lawrence Clayton's heart took its last beat and he drew his last breath on December 23, 2016. He died in Ocala, Florida after a fall which broke his leg. He had been in the ICU and at Hospice of Marion County for three weeks when he made the final step out of this world into the Great Beyond. His ninety year old heart was not strong enough to sustain him through a slow and arduous recovery. When he was completely ready to go, he left gently and (using some words from William Blake) entered the "immense world of delight" closed to our "senses five". 

______________________

The life had been slowly draining from Larry's body. As Mark and I, his doctor and nurse, stood beside him, his breathing became ragged. This is the song I sang to him as he peacefully exited this world for Great Eternity.

Peace I ask of thee, oh river
Peace, peace, peace
When I learn to live serenely
Cares will cease

From the hills I gather courage
Visions of the days to be
Strength to lead and faith to follow
All are given unto me.

(repeat first verse.)

It was in the Girl Scout Handbook in the 50s.  As I remember it.

Peace I Ask of Thee - Gwyneth Walker - Harmonium Choral Society Treble Voices

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXk0KF3AXm0

12,000 Girl Scouts Sing America's National Favorites

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDuSRyfnR3c