The extended family unit that was my grandparents, their three children, and us cousins has changed. Some of us are now grandparents ourselves and not even weddings bring us all together. The memorial service for Ruthanna Hampton (the oldest of the three McCracken children) might be the last event to bring us to the same place at the same time. She has been the matriarch for the extended family for more than a quarter century. It was not a position of title or power and her humility would have rejected the use of the word, but she was our family lighthouse.