Military Burial Service

(I started this post on Tuesday afternoon when I got home, but have not been able to finish it until now!)

Today was the burial service in Owings Mills (Maryland) for my Grandfather, Bill Donovan. He was a great man, with many quirks, as is true of most grandfathers. I have not been to a burial service before, but movies have given me certain expectations.
A crying widow
A priest
Green grass around a hole in the ground
A folded flag being presented after a very strict folding

No crying widow - my grandmother is not one for emotions, she's a hospitality person. She even tried to buy lunch for the family. We caught it before she could do that!
No priest - but grandpa was not a religious man. I believe he had faith, but not religion.
No green grass - this was a bit disturbing. We didn't know it, but they were not planning on a graveside service in any way. They moved the casket to a pick-up truck, lowered it into a concrete box, then into the ground with a backhoe. Not very romantic. What was even better was the cemetery guy with the biggest mullet I have ever seen!
Yes - we did have the flag presentation ceremony. It was very somber and quite, with each fold of the flag resonating in a chapel built just for this purpose. Upon presentation to my grandmother, they said something to the effect of "M'aam, this flag is presented to you with great respect and appreciation of the service by your husband to the United States."

In another awkward moment - The Obit!
You can't get the obituary online, because the newspaper up in Aberdeen (MD) is not that high tech yet. If you could see it, you would see that he taught at NYU, a line about the patents, a list of the children (and spouses) and grandchildren (with current home location), and burial info. What you would not find is the line "is survived by Rosemary Donovan" but not because my grandmother is not around - but because the newspaper LEFT HER OUT! Yes, they did have to print a correction. They also left out my step-father, and that was in the correction too.

And that was the first half of my week. More on Ropes Course Wednesday when I get home!