Rain, Pot Holes and a Funeral

Kosrae in March -- a lot of wind, a lot of RAIN, pot holes, and funerals.  March coincides with Lent. Today is Palm Sunday, next Sunday is Easter.  Winter has been hard on the old folks.  There have been many funerals and get togethers.  It is something I treasure here, you will see why.

It is pouring POURING rain here today (Sunday).  Lovely to listen to, rain pelting on corrugated metal roofing all around my windows.  Last week I walked the hill to the Justice Department in the rain, and was joined by Senator Linden Jackson! who told me that there is a drought emergency declared in FSM, but obviously once again they have forgotten Kosrae.  (This happens because Kosrae is only 7% of the population of FSM and is located geographically a long way away from the other states.)(I guess)  Kosrae gets upwards of 165 in / yr of rain.  It's green and tropical and there is no shortage of water.  Except: when it rains this hard, they turn off the water supply to residences and buildings (something to do with the dam) and when they turn it back on the water runs brown.  After a few days without rain, the water pressure in my apartment goes to pitiful, so I time my showers to be late in the day for full flow.  Laundry best early in the mornings.   At any rate, it is RAINing, and the result of all this rain is POT HOLES!

 It is also true that efforts to carve out a new road or a spot for a new house uncovers the soil which then runs off the hills into the streets and beyond.  The soil looks to be almost Georgia clay.  It is red-brown, clay-ey.  The soil is used by the road crew after every rain, when they patch the pot holes with dirt. Ahem, soil.  Last week there was a magnificent effort to fill all the potholes and then run a heavy roller over the work, making the roads almost passable at something more than 20 mph.  I was giddy with speed as I flew over these fixed patches.  That was before, and now is now, pot holes all over again. 

When Kosraean people get sick, sometimes they fly to Honolulu or somewhere else in the States for treatment.  When they die, the bodies are often returned to the families on the island and buried.  This has happened so often since I've been here that it becomes part of the normal -- people live, work, play, and get together for church, births, birthday parties, deaths and family dinners.  The presence of the large families, embracing the normalcy of life, is strong and reassuring.

I was invited to the funeral of Sterling Skilling, the brother of Fred Skilling (our landlord from last year) and Kennedy Skilling (landlord this year) and uncle of Mary Nat who is my best friend here and whose mother was Sterling's sister.  It was wonderful to be included, embraced by this family. 

Sterling Skilling had been staying with family in Seattle since last February 2023.  He died in January 2024.  His body was flown in and expected on Saturday March 16, but on that day it was RAINing and the Island Hopper (United Air Lines flight serving the Marshalls, FSM and Guam) was not able to land.  I understand this is because there is not the technology to do a 'blind' landing on the runway, the pilot has to be able to see the runway to navigate a landing.  So the UA flight stopped in Majuro and came to Kosrae on Sunday Mar 17.  When a body arrives, it is taken by ambulance to the Hospital for a death declaration/certificate, then immediately to the family awaiting.  The Island Hopper was delayed on Sunday, so the 300+ funeral attendees waited pleasantly, companionably for several hours before the ceremony began.  (An aside: all the cooking and prep for a funeral had been done expecting him to arrive on Saturday, and then that was postponed!  Imagine being a cook for that event and having everything delayed.)  

    

Here you can see Fred Skilling, welcoming everyone to the event, the coffin being opened, and Nachuo (Mary's husband) being the MC for speakers at the funeral.  The Skillings were friendly, seemed glad to have everyone there, had cooked plenty of hold-me-over-during-the-wait snacks.  It was easy to sit there for hours and chat with other people also waiting.

Sterling Skilling was an important member of the Kosraean community.  What I picked up from the eulogies included: he was the person who brought Mobil Oil to Kosrae, thus fueling generators and transportation.  He also secured a life insurance company (details missing in my recollection) that has been an important source of income for many.  When he went to Seattle last February, his wife Cathy took on running this business.  She also oversees management of the 'farm' where they lived.  It is a most gorgeous 'agroforestry' setting that I hope to visit and learn more about.  Sterling also started the Kosraean Tennis Center 

https://www.postguam.com/forum/featured_columnists/kosrae-s-skilling-still-plays-tennis-at-72/article_47b929d0-a27d-11e8-9764-ef8168c3d262.html 

~40 years ago, which has been a strong attractor for youth and others.  The Kosraean tennis team is vying for a spot in the Pacific Island Games to be held soon!  

After the funeral service, which was carried out just as you would expect with prayers led by ministers and some words spoken by various family and friends, the coffin was moved to the burial site in the back yard, then covered with sand and a lid placed over it.  The family group in the photo includes Nachuo and Mary Nat.  

Behind them is Cj, a grandson of Sterling Skilling enrolled at Green River Comm College south of Seattle.  I got to know him at the family dinner yesterday evening.  So much more to say here, about Cj and about Kosraean kids going to college stateside after growing up here ... for another post.

Mary Nat sold me this dress and told me it would be appropriate for a funeral.  The dress is comfy, and makes me feel very Kosraean.