I guess 8-10 times. Family mostly. It's always an honor to be asked.
The hardest was my uncle. There were only 6 of us (4 men with bad backs and two young teens) and a skinny female funeral director. We had to carry him down two flights of cement steps in front of the church. We almost lost him a couple times. Usually it's more ceremonial and you walk beside the casket while it's rolled on a cart.
The most special was for my brother. I wasn't a part of it, trying to support my mom. After the service concluded, our hunting camp buds, who were his pallbearers, all came up the church aisle to get his flag covered casket. They were all wearing Columbia Quad duck hunting coats in old school brown camo. I had held it together until then, but that got me. Still does.
