Texas Goose Chase
April 12, 2002
She was one of Pat’s favorite cousins. We received an email from Aunt Hazel Lister that cousin Lois Ledford had died and services would be held in Klein, Texas. We were settled among the oak trees of Woodvine – our property in College Station – so a drive to Klein would require less than two hours. Pat suggested that since we did not know the location of the funeral home, we should call them and obtain directions. “No need,” I contended. “I’ll just print a map off the Internet.” The map obtained through Yahoo seemed clear enough. With a printed copy in hand, we were totally prepared. As we prepared to leave, Pat complained about not feeling very well. But unsure as to whether it was an allergy or a cold, decided to go anyway. I rushed Pat a little to make sure that we were not late. So, of course, we arrived in the Klein area almost an hour early. My excuse was that the highways between College Station and Houston are much better than they once were. Whereas it once took two hours to travel the 100 miles, it now takes less. I bragged about how arriving early was much better than arriving late -- Pat kindly did not disagree.
We drove by the funeral home to make sure we knew the location. A funeral service had just ended and folks were leaving the chapel. We found some sandwiches at a local grocery store and ate lunch while waiting for the start of the 1:15 P.M. services. A call on our cell phone to Don Ledford (Lois’ son) went unanswered, so we left a message. Arriving at the chapel about 1:05 P.M. we checked in with the receptionist. With a look of surprise, she announced that “The Ledford services had been held at 10:30 A.M. But, they all left for the cemetery only about 20 minutes ago. Maybe you can catch them there.”
Following her directions, we sped across town toward the Houston National VA Cemetery. Upon arriving at the cemetery, cars were coming and going and we saw no one that we knew. We searched for a group of folks at a grave site. Finding none, we asked an attendant where we might find the Ledford group. He phoned somebody on his radio and was assured that the Ledford group had just left.
“Maybe the family is gathering at Lois’ home in Tomball,” I suggested. So while I drove, Pat phoned Lois’ number but got no answer. We wondered if they could be there and not be answering the phone. We had visited Lois several times in previous years, but could not remember the exact route to her home. However, we had her address, so we drove into her neighborhood and stopped at a cleaners store to ask directions. The fellow of Chinese ancestry behind the desk did not know the address, but suggested that we check with the city police station one block away. A block away, we could not find the police station, so stopped at a Quick Lube and inquired about directions. One of the workers was driving a little red sports car around and around and was making me very nervous because of his speed and how close he came to me. Another worker did not know the address but pointed to the police station we had missed before. It was located in a structure that looked like a home -- which explained why we had missed it. We drove to the station and tried all the doors. They were locked. Then, from upstairs, a couple of cops appeared and gave us directions to Lois’ home. The directions were very good and we found her home within about five minutes. No one was there!
A neighbor drove into his driveway, so we queried him about the location of the family. “I was just at the funeral,” he said. “But I don’t know where they are now. However, I have Don’s pager number written down somewhere.” He disappeared into his home and soon emerged with the number. We phoned the number on our cell phone but got a message that the number had been disconnected. “Maybe they have all gone to Don’s home” he suggested. “Or maybe they are at Lois’ church.” He gave us some complicated directions to the church which was far to the northeast near I-45. We called Don’s home again and got no answer. Don lives in the nearby town of Cypress, so we debated whether to go to Don’s home or the church. The neighbor was not sure that the church, for which he had given directions, was actually Lois’ church, but he thought it was. Deciding that finding Don’s home might be easier and more certain than finding the church, we headed to Cypress. Again, no one was home.
We questioned a neighbor who was checking her mail at the curbside mailbox about the possible whereabouts of the family. “Check with their other neighbors who are close friends of Don’s,” she suggested. At a neighbor’s home, which was surrounded by automobiles, no one answered when the doorbell was rung or upon knocking. We waited a few minutes, but by now it was about 3:30 P.M. We considered trying to find the church, but decided by the time we found it, the family would probably be elsewhere. Wishing to avoid driving home in the dark, we decided to cut our losses. Maybe this was just not our day! We took off for College Station.
We were very disappointed not to have seen the Ledford children and other relatives that came to the funeral but figured that by now most had likely scattered. However, the drive down and back from College Station was enjoyable. The weather was excellent and the roadside wildflowers were in full bloom. It also gave us a chance to check out our new Honda CRV which was only a couple of days old.
As we tried to figure out how we had failed so miserably, we searched for a solution so as to avoid this problem sometime in the future. Hazel’s message had given us the wrong time, but she had gotten it by phone from Gerry Ledford. However, we concluded that our ill fortune could not be blamed on anyone else – we should have double-checked the time and location with the funeral home -- as Pat had suggested. We also concluded that we are imperfect humans, who sometimes make mistakes. Not to worry!
About halfway to College Station, our cell phone rang. It was Don Ledford. He was now at Lois’ house. Of course, the family had been at the one place we did not check -- the church. Pat explained what had happened and told him how sorry we were that we had missed the service and a visit with family. We had known Don very well when he attended Texas A&M, where we saw him frequently and always enjoyed his company.
Later Pat said, “It’s too bad I wasn’t really sick this morning, it could have save us a lot of trouble.”
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