September 11th 2023

While visiting Charles Kapsner in the studio he reminded me that the Minnesota Military Museum would be having their annual big event and open house this coming weekend. He mentioned that they might be out of brochures for the painting. Well, here I am set to fly out of state for the week and return just in time to make the afternoon’s main events. I am looking forward to it.

Thank goodness for my amazing relationship with a local printing company. The team at Digital Printing Plus, in St. Cloud, jumped my project to the top of the list on a Monday morning and had the brochure printed and ready for me by 10:30 am. I can’t thank them enough. But I will recommend them to anyone who asks.

I picked up the brochures and rushed them off to the museum so they would be ready for the weekend. I am still waiting for some items from TAPS, and I will reach back out to them this week in hopes of being able to add that to the items I share.

My husband and I paid our entrance fee and walked through the exhibit just to see how things came together in the end for the room. The painting looks really nice with the details and brochures by it. I hope that if my dad were here, that he would be honored to have his story being told and shared in such a noble and respected place. A little trail of tears ran down my face as I sat and took in the painting one more time. He doesn’t feel so far away sometimes.

On our way off the base of Camp Ripley, we stopped by to pay our respects. A light rain had just passed over so the backs and sides of the stones were a different color with the grass dying off from the summer drought, the yellow and the headstones created a very different look. If you look back on the photos over the years, that I have been posting of Henry’s little spot in the cemetery you will notice that he has a lot more company than when he started out.

Rest in Peace Dad,
Love JoyGenea

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