Disbursement party
Comments (...)The basis for the idea of a disbursement party actually began on July 17, 1954, the day my wife and I spoke our wedding vows. A large reception followed in our church hall before we headed north to a little resort in Canada for a short honeymoon in our classy dark blue 1948 Silver Streak Pontiac acquired for $800 just a few weeks earlier.
In those days, the custom was that several of the bride’s wedding party would be on hand to unwrap the array of gifts and display them on tables. It was a rather nice arrangement, but one that I understand has somewhat faded away in recent years. Among our gifts were several framed pictures, plaques, clocks and mirrors that might all find a place on the walls of our new apartment. So began the array of treasured remembrances that would grace the walls of future homes for years to come. Decade by decade those walls would in many cases tell a story of our lives together.
Now, turn the clock ahead more than 60 years to our two-story home (which we built in 1964), with all these things mounted on every wall, including in our finished basement. In this equation, add the death of my dear wife Mary in 2002 and me in my late 70s occasionally wondering how the dickens a home like this will eventually be dismantled. It is indeed a reality staring a person in the face. Sure, an old-fashioned home auction can be held for all the appliances, furniture and fixtures, but what about all those things on the walls?
I already have given most of my dear wife’s jewelry, watches and collection of historic china away to members of my family, as well as many of the books from our library on various occasions. The two dozen Hummel figurines that we acquired while living in Germany together during my 1957 Army tour continue to be displayed at my home but names are on the bottom. Each family member made a personal choice years ago for later distribution.
So here is the easy disbursement plan, already engineered and carried out at our family meeting the evening of Dec. 27, 2011. I’ll take credit for the idea, which was announced well ahead of time so that Tom, Dave, Mike, Josh and partners could be on-hand, along with their immediate offspring.
We started in my lower level “hall of memories,” which takes up half our basement with the walls almost completely covered with memorabilia from years past. Each person drew a number from the “lottery bowl” and was given a sheet of several dozen die-cut labels. Starting with No. 1 and continuing in sequence, stickers were placed on the item desired. The process went rather smoothly until everything had been spoken for.
Proceeding up to the living room, dining room, kitchen and family room, we continued the process. It was then upstairs visiting all four bedrooms and, of course, all bathrooms. In less than two hours our disbursement party was finished. Josh and I then video recorded the complete tour through my home, verbally identifying the scores of items on all walls. A 30-minute DVD was then produced for family members to document the procedure with some other historic memories to fill it out.
That same week I placed all stickers on the back of every piece and wrote a little dated historic note to the recipient with a black marker. Now, when my homestead is dismantled at a future date, each member of the family can come and claim their treasure in memory of Dad and Mom, Grandpa and Grandma. Bingo — it was an uncomplicated, non-controversial exercise that I would recommend to anyone my age or even younger. It worked like a charm.
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All the important family stuff has been sent, the only things remaing are materials things that should go to auction when I'm done. |
