Memorial Service For Krista Marie Severson (Hamlin) - November 11, 2019

Hard to believe Krista is gone. Not yet 41 years of age.

United Methodist Church in Woodland, CA.

Knew hardly anyone here. Still had a stroke of luck. Wore my "Starry, Starry Night" Vincent Van Gogh tie. Vincent Van Gogh was apparently Krista's favorite artist.

To my great surprise, at a table placed in front of the altar for memorabilia and photos, there was a newspaper clipping from the Woodland Daily Democrat featuring me dancing with Krista in the Woodland Dance Academy's Nutcracker in 1993. I haven't seen Krista in 15 years, and who knows what photographs she would have chosen for herself, but her mother had saved this clipping and apparently had it displayed on her bedroom wall, because it was important to her. Just shows what kind of impact we can have on people's lives, even if inadvertently.

I was recruited to help with the Nutcracker because so few boys were available in Woodland for the struggling girl dancers. I remember Krista's bitter disappointment when she first got a look at her cavalier. I was 37; she was just 15. Some buff, handsome guy of about 19 would have been more suitable. But we worked hard and she looked great for the show, and Sleeping Beauty in May, 1994.

Paddy's Irish Pub for the reception.

The pub manager (owner?), who also spoke at the church (family?) told a funny story about Krista, also when she was 15. Her parents left her at home with a friend (friends?). When her parents returned, they found the living room sofa in the back yard. Apparently the sofa had caught fire, and it was easier to take the sofa out to the back yard hose than bring the hose into the house. No one ever learned how the fire started.

Is this what Dead Cat Alley in Woodland is named for? Never knew.

Music heard at the service, or at the reception afterwards: