What's in a name?
or
Who Gets The Last Laugh?

He called her home to see if she would go out with him. He asked to talk to “Jane”.

There was a moment of silence but then a young woman’s voice came on the line.You see he had given the wrong name. The young woman he was calling was Jean!

But Jean Swenson of Cannon Falls did go out with him and she and Armond Kowalkoski have been married over 25 years.

When Armond met Jean’s relatives he found his own name being confused. It was Aunt Clara Esterby, who became one of his favorites, who first got his name mixed up. She called him, “Arnold”.

Over the years, as Armond tells the story, other family members would also try to straighten Clara out but she always slipped and called him Arnold.

Armond finally adopted the name of Arnold as a nickname. He even named his dog, Arnold! Then his son’s hockey buddies started calling him Arnold.

Armond’s “nickname” was brought to mind when Aunt Clara died last March. She was 88 years old.
The usual remembrances were recalled at her funeral service. Clara was born in 1919 in North Dakota. She had been orphaned as a young child and raised by relatives. They moved to Oregon. After graduating from high school she moved to Minnesota and married Edwin A. Esterby and then they farmed in South Dakota.
Later they moved to Randolph and lived on Lake Byllesby.Clara’s obituary lists many survivors, her foster son, sister, daughter-in-law, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and nieces and nephews.

Armond also spoke at her funeral. He remembered Aunt Clara as a sweet and loving person. But that’s not all he remembered! And that’s where Armond’s fun-loving nature took effect! Even at a funeral.

But first let's recall another funeral that Armond had spoken at. It was his mother’s.

He reminisced, “I could always make my mom laugh. And she had a great sense of humor.”
He explained that she had made some of the plans as to how her funeral would be. For example, she didn’t want to have too many flowers.

So Armond took his place at the front of the chapel. As he was speaking to the friends and relatives in the audience he had his hand in his pocket on his cell phone.
As part of his plan he had set it up so he could press the right buttons to get it to ring. But, the sequence didn’t work!
So he kept on talking and pressing his phone in his pocket… and finally it worked!The sound of the ring of a cell phone went out over the chapel.
Armond pulled his phone out of his pocket and said, “Hello?”
Then he told the audience, “It’s Mom!” He continued with the conversation, “Everything’s OK, Mom. It’s just the way you wanted... Yup, yup. OK OK.”

And Armond’s mom would have understood her son’s healing approach to a very sad occasion.

So Armond – or “Arnold” – as Aunt Clara had called him all those years, was now attending Clara's funeral.
And Armond had a few last thoughts.

As friends and family in the audience listened, he explained how she had mistakenly called him “Arnold” all those years. And how it was now his nickname, etc.

But Clara had left an endearing memory with him and he wanted to thank her. “Just a second,” Armond added, and paused, “I want to make sure I’ve got this right.”

He looked at the casket and gently smiled, “Thank you… Carla.”

I think Aunt Clara – or “Carla” – would smile at that too.