Book Signing:

Saturday, I went to my first book signing. April had told me Mrs. Jean Carnahan was having a book signing at Rolla Books on the 22nd. She suffered a great loss when her husband, Governor Mel Carnahan, her son, Randy Carnahan along with Chris Sifford died in a plane crash in 2000.


The funeral for our governor was an historic event. Governor Mel Carnahan lay in state on Thursday, October 19, 2000 at the Missouri Governor's Mansion. Funeral service was at 11:30 a.m. on Friday, October 20th, 2000 on the south lawn of the Missouri State Capital. After the Friday services began the long journey of traveling along highway 63 south towards his home of many years in Rolla, MO for a funeral service to be held at 10 a.m. Saturday, October 21, 2000. Following the service in Rolla was another long leg of the journey on to Ellsinore, MO for burial at the Carson Hill Cemetery.


All along the route in towns and farm roads families stood to await the solemn funeral procession. Many people stood patiently for hours waiting as the trip took much longer than anticipated. You could see young and old proudly waving small American flags. April, my niece Kayla and nephew Tyler, and I waited along the highway by Stratman Trucking as that was where I worked at the time.

I visited with Mrs. Carnahan for a few minutes as she was signing my book. We talked about her son, Randy coming to Mom and Dad's in the years past to attend the Molasses Making. I told her if Dad had come along, she would have had a rather lengthy visit as he would be telling stories and relating different events to her. She smiled and said that would have been nice to hear. Mrs. Carnahan is a very gracious and kind woman.

I feel honored to have met Mrs. Carnahan and buy her book for Mom and Dad.