There’s still a lot to deal with, but I’m gradually doing better.
There will be many stages to come, no doubt, and some might be very tough. Ray, we’ll be thinking about you, and with you in any way we can be, every step of the way, not just now but over the next days and weeks and months.
Sorry for your loss Ray.
So Sorry for your loss Ray.
Sean
Here’s the obituary I wrote for my brother and his wife. It was published in the local newspaper in Big Timber, MT:
Jim and Maggi Dunakin
Jim: Mar. 20, 1956 – Feb. 27, 2016
Maggi: May 6, 1957 – Feb. 27, 2016
James Scott Dunakin and his beloved wife Margaret “Maggi” Dunakin (nee Mullins) left this world on February 27, 2016. Jim was 59; Maggi was 58. They had been together for 28 years, and had no children.
Jim and Maggi moved from San Diego to Montana in 1994. For the past ten years they have lived near Reed Point, MT in a cabin they built themselves.
Jim was a silversmith and designer of fine art jewelry. His wife Maggi was an artist in her own right, originally working in graphic arts. Later she assisted Jim in the design and production of jewelry. Their work is known worldwide and has been featured in magazines including Jewelry Artist and Lapidary Journal.
Maggi was an accomplished cook. Jim built a custom guitar and taught himself to play it. They loved animals and were devoted to their cats. Jim and Maggi were unconventional, fun-loving, and kind-hearted. They were soul mates. Their passing leaves a huge hole in the lives of their family and friends.
A small, private ceremony to scatter their ashes was held on Saturday, March 4, 2016.
Big “Cyberhug” from me Ray.
Try to get back in the saddle as soon as you can as you have a depot that needs finished!
Very nice Ray.
I am sure it was difficult for you to write that.
Ray
That was a well thought out obituary!
We feel for you!
A very lovely and precise remembrance of their lives Ray. I believe many readers here will identify to a larger or lesser degree with your late brother and sister-in-law. They were a very creative pair and I am sure that they enjoyed each others company in all that they achieved and without doubt that bond still exists…
Ray ,
I am sorry for your loss of family, sometimes the memory can hurt us or help us, to determine which one it is, and focus either on the
memory, or focus on life, each survivor has to recognize which one carries our strength and move forward with what that one.
For me, focus on my creator has shortened sorrows into a short hiccup in life.
Dennis
They were interesting people. Something about life on this little ball of rock and water seems especially hard on the psyche of artists.
Ray,
My wife and I have been traveling and so I missed your initial post in February. We’re so sorry. As a close couple, we understand how relationships work. Hope your road gets smoother soon.
Today would have been my brother’s 60th birthday.
Here’s something I wrote for the occasion:
Ray, that was well done.
The Isuzu Trooper you mention, I remember going with Dad to a new car exposition in Virginia - Isuzu’s Trooper was the only new truck displayed with a load, and a dirty one at that, bags of soil and mulch! Dad was quite impressed. But in the end, he kept his IH Scout.
Thanks.
The first car I ever owned was an IH Scout.
Ray Dunakin said:
The first car I ever owned was an IH Scout.
Welcome. And, cool! Oh, they were fun vehicles. Dad bought his used, and it was as basic as humanly habitable, didn’t even have chrome on the radiator or a headliner under the roof: pretty close to zero interior trim. Was dark green, olive green vinyl seats, with black bumpers, the front one being steel box channel of some kind, with big eyebolts at ends on top. Almost looked Army surplus. Steering wheel looked the size of something from a battleship. And there was an optical illusion with the windshield - looking at it from outside, it had a pretty fair rake to it, but from inside it looked, seemed, felt, vertical. Took a bit for truck to get to interstate speed, but, man, when you went to pass you’d hit 70-80 almost before you knew what was happening; I have no recall what kind of motor and rear end that thing had, but it could pull, and it could move when necessary.
I learned to drive stick on that thing, un-synchronized tranny, locking hubs, and all, in the red clay Piedmont hills of central Georgia.
Tell ya what, going canoeing for the afternoon, then stopping on way home to have ice cream while sitting on tailgate, those were good days 
Sadly, we’ve had another loss. My wife Cris’ mother passed away Friday evening. She went peacefully in her sleep. She had been diagnosed with late stage cancer on Feb. 21, just a week before Jim and Maggi died. She was 86.
Cris’ mother was a very kind, sweet lady whom I loved dearly. She was the best mother-in-law anyone could ever hope for.
Ray, I am sorry to hear of this loss in your family, I pray for abundance of God provided peace in you and Cris’s life.
Dennis
Oh dear. So much at once.
Gee Ray,
My heart and prayers go out to you. So much to bear. Your train family is here for you.