Jim

My uncle's memorial service was last Saturday.  I just wanted to document the experience because it was a little unique and definitely...entertaining?  Is that the right word?  It was fun to see a lot of people who we don't normally see come and pay their respects.  My uncle had two godchildren. Their mother is a model and their dad is Cameron Mathison.

I didn't know who he was until he showed up at the service, straight from the plane from New York en route to LA with his big, white teeth.  He played on All My Children for 14 years, is now a correspondent for Good Morning America (and had spent the day previous hanging out with the Backstreet Boys on GMA!) and was a semi-finalist on Dancing With the Stars.

My goodness, did all the women swoon.  Especially my little sister who would pretend to take pictures of something while she was secretly taking pictures of him!  His family sent a beautiful bouquet of three dozen long-stemmed red roses.  He was a humble, down-to-earth guy.

Afterward my grandpa took us all to Sizzler in Bountiful.  The waitress immediately recognized him and called her daughter who rushed down to take pictures of him at the salad bar.  He was so kind and realizes that these are the people who give him a job and was very gracious.  The waitress told us how she'd watched the show for 30 years and met Susan Lucci, etc.  We got the best service EVER.  I think that Cameron may be the most exciting thing that has ever happened to the Sizzler on 500 South.

I don't watch soap operas.  I wouldn't have recognized him on the street.  But he told us a hilarious story of fame.  It was while he was on All My Children, he played a character named Ryan.  Anyway, Cameron was shopping at a mall in NYC during a busy Christmas season and this lady was going up the escalator at the mall and sees him down below and yells, "RYAN!"  He noticed and waves at her. As she gets to the top, she leans over the edge and yells, "I'm so glad they let you out of prison, I knew you didn't rape that girl!" (which was what had happened to his character recently).  Needless to say, it was a really embarrassing moment for him and most of the mall stopped to look at him.  Ah, people are crazy!  We all had a good laugh.

So that was our memorial service "distraction" you could say.  Made for interesting times.