SEATTLE — Jerald Weber was at his father’s bedside in his room at a Newcastle assisted-living center last October when the retired Boeing worker and decorated World War II veteran took his final breath 18 days shy of his 98th birthday.
Before William Weber died, court documents say, he and his son had arranged through William’s insurance coverage to lay him to rest next to his wife, Helen.
So on the day after Veterans Day last year, Jerald, his wife and other members of his father’s extended family — some of whom had traveled from other states — gathered at Tahoma National Cemetery in Kent to pay their final respects to his father and celebrate his extraordinary life.
During a funeral replete with a salute of gunfire and an Air Force honor guard’s ceremonial folding of the American flag that draped his casket, William’s final wish to be buried in his dress uniform and next to his beloved wife was carried out.