Uncle Andy, seen here last September passed away last week, age 91.
He was the last of the older generation on my mother's side. He was actually a half cousin to my mother but we have always been close family due to intermarriages between the two families; indeed he was also a full cousin to one of my aunts. He enjoyed good health until the past few months, when he had begun to suffer weight loss, and heart and kidney failure. He passed away peacefully in his sleep. I travelled to Northern Ireland for the day on Friday to support his widow and son and visited the funeral parlour with his son and then we went along to the church for receiving the coffin when we held a small family service, as I was unable to attend the formal funeral on Sunday due to my responsibilities to Ann back here in Scotland. The thing that cuts me up real bad right now is how God has taken all the older ones within the past five years with no prospect on the horizon yet of being blessed with a new generation of children to ensure the continuance of the family for future generations.