Posted on 11/28/2020 2:04:53 AM PST by Jim Robinson
Dear FRiends, Arrangements have been made with Whitehurst, Sullivan. Burns and Blair to lay my beloved wife Sheila to rest at 1:30, Wednesday, December 2 at Fresno Memorial Gardens. It will be a small graveside service with friends and family.
We selected a site that is very near where my mother and father and sister Thelma are buried. It's a small plot, but there is room there for me, too, someday.
This is by far the hardest and most heartbreaking thing I've ever done. Sheila was the light of my life. She loved God, loved life, and she loved nature and God's church of the greater outdoors.
Sheila was born November 15, 1950 in Fresno, CA. to Eino and Ruth Kulju of Reedley, CA. She went home to our Lord, whom she loved very much, on November 18, 2020, just three days past her 70th birthday and five months and five days after we celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary.
She grew up on a farm in Reedley where her father was foreman. As a little girl, she loved the freedom of farm life where she could climb trees and run barefoot with her dog through the orchards and vineyards. Her father grew a family orchard and garden in the yard of their home and she enjoyed plucking and eating juicy ripe peaches, plums and grapes fresh from the trees and vines and tomatoes, green onions and vegetables from the garden.
Her grandparents, Isaac and Katie Kulju, immigrated here from Finland sometime after the turn of the century--fleeing the Russians as the story goes. They settled and lived about 30 years on a farm on the west side of the Kings River, just north of the Manning Ave bridge that crosses over into Reedley. They were killed in 1937 on the way to church when their car was struck by a train.
Sheila was a patriot who loved America and loved freedom. We spent a large part of our last twenty years together traveling by van and RV, attending conservative events, rallies and protests from city to city and state to state. We ended up visiting every one of the contiguous 48.
We are laying her to rest dressed in one of her favorite patriotic shirts and hat and her stars and stripes earrings that she liked to wear to rallies. She'll also have her bible that was given to her by her Aunt Lina when she was in high school, and a flag she had hanging on the mirror of her dresser.
I thank God for the 50 loving years we shared together and our two wonderful sons He gave us.
...to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love, cherish, and to obey, till death us do part... and thus we are parted, my dear Sheila, but through the grace of God, we shall meet again some glorious day.
Dear God, I love and miss her so. Always will.
Thank you all very much for your support, your love and your prayers.
God bless.
I've never met you or your dear Shelia and wish I had.
God's Grace will bless you.
BDE. May her memory be a blessing and may the L-rd comfort you.
Hoping that you and family can find comfort and strength in our words of sympathy and kind wishes.
May God bless you...and am so sorry for your loss - even thou you both had so many years together....70 is much too young to pass these days! Take care of yourself!
Leni
She sounds like she is quite a woman. I’m very sorry for your loss.
God have mercy on her soul and give Peace to those she leaves.
Mr Robinson, my wife and I wish to send you our sincere condolences on your loss.
God bless you and you family.
Mr. Robinson
She was God’s gift to you, as you have been for us.
May He bless her and you in the next life and this.
Praying for y’all, Jim. I’m so sorry.
So sorry for your loss.
Read this loving memorial again tonight. It is truly heartfelt and loving. Your steady love for her is the key to greeting each new day. Thank you for sharing your heart. It helps those of us who wonder how we might cope with such a loss. God bless.
50 years. What a blessing. Thank you Jim for the touching tribute. May God grant you peace and comfort. You will find many shoulders here for support.
Peace be with you.
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