Dear Everyone,

I am sitting here by myself in a restaurant contemplating today. It is Wednesday, February 12 and it's been six months since Larry, my wonderful husband, died. It has been a long six months.

I have a wonderful story to tell.

Something occurred a few days ago and it kind of blew me out of the water and I would like to share this with you. Larry's Memorial was on September 21st, 2014, about 4 1/2 months ago. I never saw my car after it crashed and I mourned the loss of items that had to be left in the car afterwards.

On Friday, February 7th, 2025, I was doing some shopping at the local Goodwill, and I received a phone call. The lady on the other end asked if I was June. I said yes, and who are you? I won't use real names at this point. The lady asked if I had a Subaru? I said yes, a white one. I had just gotten rid of a non working Subaru within the last month or so. The woman said, no not a white one, a blue one.
When I heard that she was talking a blue Subaru, my heart started racing. I said, yes, I had a blue Subaru, but it was totalled in a car crash last year. She said, yes, that is the one I am talking about.

What was going on? Why was this woman calling me about this car?

I will call her Nancy.

Nancy went on to say that her boyfriend had bought this car at an auction. She looked inside and saw all sort of stuff inside it. She took it all out to save it, in case she found me, and I wanted it. She could see how important all the things would probably be for me. All these things from Larry's Memorial....
Of course, I am crying at this point, in the middle of Goodwill. I could not believe what Nancy had just told me. I was able to say Thank you,
oh, Thank you, Thank you! She explained that her boyfriend worked with cars, and loved Subarus. He had recently bought my totaled blue Subaru, and Nancy had found it full of things. She knew that I would most likely want the chance to look through everything she found.
Larry's name was, course, was on many of the items she looked through. She had read Larry's obituary online and she said it wasn't hard to find my name and cell phone number.
Nancy asked me if I wanted the chance to look through these items. Before I could respond, she said she would take everything out and store it for me. She said that she lived close to Newburg.

I stammered out that yes, yes, I wanted everything she could find in that totaled car.

Fast forward to Tuesday, yesterday, which was the first day I could drive to Newburg. We had talked on the phone and she gave me her address. She had so many things. The first item that amazed me was the map Larry had made and kept about his Pilgrimage in Spain. He had walked El Camino de Santiago, also known as The Way of Saint James, back in the Fall of 2013. Larry was so excited going on this journey. After he returned back home, Larry had taken a map of Spain, and noted on it every little place he had visited and spent the night. Usually he slept in an "alberge" which was a place which only
Pilgrims could stay at, and spend the night to rest, before continuing
on their walking journey across Spain. Larry had used small little yellow pushpins to mark each location on this map. He had kept this map and put it on a bulletin board and hung it on the wall. After he was building our houseboat, it hung on the wall inside. His Pilgrimage de El Camino de Santiago had been a deep experience for him. He
had said many times how grateful he was that he had had the opportunity to experience it himself.
Nancy and I talked quite a bit and I followed her to where my totaled car was. I met Nancy's boyfriend who bought the car. I thanked him.
I took some photos of the car.

I eventually had to leave, and I had to drive back to Salem. I have not had time to look through everything I have, but I look forward to that.
I thought I needed to share this story here. What are the chances of anything still being left in the car, and of the graciousness and caring of Nancy to salvage everything and then contact me? I don't think many individuals would have done what she did. But,
maybe they would.

If you ever read any of my "updates" on this website, I hope they have been interesting, Larry touched a lot of people in his lifetime. I know that he would like me to share this story. Yes, I know he would.
Sincerely,
June Bridenbeck

Dear Family and Friends,

Happy Holidays and Happy New Years. I hope you are celebrating the season with loved ones. I am staying with my daughter and her family in Salem. I am out of the wheelchair and walking short distances now. I am looking forward to finding a place of my own, My family has been so supportive and loving, I don't know what I would have done without them. I feel very blessed and God is helping me along, every day.

It has only been about 4 and 1/2 weeks since Larry died. It seems like it has been forever. It never gets easy to have Larry gone, and I would not want it too. Larry and I had a special bond that death does not touch.
Our love is stronger than that. I have felt him wth me and I know I will
join him when my physical body is laid to rest.

So, the New Year will be here soon. May we all work toward helping ourselves and each other. May we bring out the gifts we all have inside of ourselves, and offer them for the goodness that this world so desperately needs.

Sincerely and
with Thankfulness,
June Bridenbeck

Dear Everyone,
Larry passed away just a little over two months ago. I am being discharged from the wonderful skilled nursing facility I have been in for a little over two weeks. I am going to stay with my wonderful daughter, Hansa, and her husband and daughter. Everyone has been so kind to me, I don't know what I would have done without all of you.
I will be continuing to get better but for now I cannot bear any weight on my left foot.

So, separate from all of that, I just have to say that I won't ever be the same without my sweet husband, Larry.
He was the most wonderful loving friend and companion with me. We shared so much, despite going through so many hard times together. He had a way about him that people got to appreciate. He was a genuine good, decent hard working man that had amazing principles. Just honest, sincere and with a sometimes crazy sense of humor.
Many of you know about his humor.

Well, I will be keeping a memorial online for Larry, and I wish you all well, and the best in your own lives.
I have always felt that Life is very, very precious, and with Larry gone, it continues to be precious.
I will be doing a lot of praying and soul searching to find a new place for me in this world. That is going to be
a long, long road but I will get there ...wherever "there" ends up being.

Sincerely, and with so much love,
June Bridenbeck

Dear family and friends,

The Memorial last Saturday was so much more than I could of ever hoped for. It made me happy. I stopped after it was over, and said to myself, I am so HAPPY....really happy. ..... It was just beautiful how so many people shared a story about knowing Larry and how they were each affected by him. Everyone said how beautiful it was. I can't say enough about it. And maybe I had organized most of it, but it was all of you that made it happen. It was all of you, preparing, sharing , watching and just being there ......I can't say enough.

Unfortunately, there was a car accident on the way home from the Memorial. I am now in the hospital at Emmanuel and I will have surgery on my left foot ankle on Thursday. It could've been a lot worse but it's bad enough. No one else was injured. So I went from a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful experience to the EMTs and the ambulance and the hospital. I wanted to share this, because a lot of you will hear about this second and third hand, and I wanted to be direct about it.

I have surgery Thursday and will then be in a rehab facility in Salem. and
then will be staying with my daughter in West Salem....

I will keep you all posted on this website on how things are going.

Love to all of you,
June

Dear Family and Friends,

I thank you for your continuous encouragement and love and care.
It is beautiful to see how many people have been touched by my husband Larry over the span of almost 73 years. It is hard for me to grasp, especially emotionally, that he is really gone. I am surrounded by his things that he used every day. I don't cook meals for both him and I, I can't see his funny smile, nor hear his voice. All the things we experience as someone's spouse, and/or partner, are gone.

As I approach the last few days before his Memorial, I find myself experiencing a lot more heartache, but a bit more acceptance. If there has been a time I needed to be "in the present moment" it is now. Most of us have heard the phrase of "be here now." I can't really be any where else, and the more busy I keep myself with all my endless tasks, the better I deal with the harshness of Larry's death.

Many of us have known Larry's parents, Russ and Marion Bridenbeck.
Marion passed in 2020, and Russ died in 2021. Now Larry is gone, as well. Having all three people die within four years is hard. A good part of my family is gone. I have my own two adult children and Larry's three children. All of them are amazing and Larry and I would talk about each of them, in awe of how they each has experienced challenging times and emerged stronger and wiser. That process never ends! I certainly experience that everyday.

Some of you have told me how well I am doing with everything. Others say they are amazed with how I am handling myself,
personally. Well, reality is a little different than that. I can be very emotional, and that shows itself with a lot of intensity, when I feel overwhelmed. Larry frequently quoted from the Prairie Home Companion show, which he loved to listen to. Larry would say,
"Just do what needs to be done". I try to do that, which can be easy, or really hard. I try to do those things that are really hard with as much
decor as I can.

I wanted to let you know how and what I have been doing. I am coping by keeping busy. I am keeping busy with all the details of Larry's Memorial, which is this Saturday, September 21st. The aftermath of Larry death also includes having to deal with several vehicles, most which do not operate. And, then, there has been the cleaning out of a 10 X 30 foot storage unit, which has been filled with both belongings of mine and Larry. I have had a lot of help with this huge task by friends and family. We are amost done with that. Larry kept a lot of things, but, the best have been the sentimental family things. The original birth certificate of Larry's paternal grandfather, Clarence R. Bridenbeck, is one such item. That has been amazing and
great, because Larry's son Craig has wanted to see that for years. Another item discovered was Larry's braided long hair, which he had cut off so many years ago. His children remember when that took place. Small but very significant items, and they take us on a personal journey back into the past, of ourselves, but also those who came before us.

So, I and others who loved Larry, are moving slowly through the finality of Larry's death. Saturday we will do this together, with
lauughter, as well as tears, along with the celebration of a life well lived.

Personally, I still say, "I love you" to Larry throughout the day.
It gives me so much comfort, and I know he is hearing my words.

Everyone, again, thank you all for your support and kindness. I am humbled by your generosity and care.

with love,
June

Dear Family and Friends,
As the date for Larry's Memorial gets closer, I find myself experiencing a complicated mixture of emotion. I am happy to see so many people wanting to get together to celebrate Larry's life. But on the other hand, it's the final evidence that I will never wake up in the morning, to see him by my side. And all the little important things that a married couple share.
We all grieve differently about loss, depending on the relationship and past experiences. I tend to be a very emotional person, and I don't hide my feelings very well. I have no problem expressing my tears.

Anyway, It is a beautiful September afternoon, refreshed by the morning rain, and Life is beautiful....and Life goes on.

love,
June