"I thought that was a nice headline," she says, holding up the paper, which reads, "Trojans come to pass."
Each of the pallbearers, once they leave church, will be wearing USC baseball caps. The plan is also to have nothing but cardinal and gold flowers.
Neighbor Mike Kurkierewicz, who has had a standing UCLA-USC six-pack wager for years with Ron, calls the USC athletic department and USC makes plans to send flowers to the funeral home.
"If they sent Matt Leinart, that'd be really cool too," Sandy cracks.
She also reminds herself, because Ron didn't get the chance to get around to it, "I owe Mike a six-pack."
A customer here and there interrupts the conversation, Lisa still fighting the computer and Sandy trying to remember what to charge for some brake repair.
Each one takes a turn over the next couple of hours wiping away tears, shifting comfortably back and forth between the memory of what has just happened and so many funny stories to tell.
"I come from an Irish family, so we think everything is funny, but the girls and I have had our pity parties too," Sandy says. "I know Monday and Tuesday [the day of the funeral] are going to be tough, but I've got five families to support -- my own and the four employees who work for me. If I worked for someone else, maybe I could go home and pull the blanket over my head...."
Brady, the boyfriend, interrupts: "He was the funnest guy I've been around. I wouldn't say hanging around with a 53-year-old man is very much fun, but it was like hanging around with my 21-year-old buddy."
It helps explain the picture on the wall of the guy wearing the goofy hat.
"He was my best friend," Sandy says, while suddenly sounding perturbed. "Yeah, I'm quite angry -- angry at him for leaving me.
"Why did you leave me?" she says, one of her daughters handing her a tissue. "We still had stuff to do. He was going to get a physical -- if you didn't want to see the doctor, all you had to do was say so. But he just checked out on me."
She sits up and smiles. "This girl here [Lisa] was weeping for two days straight but had a little moment of clarity," Sandy says. "She looked at me and said, 'Dad didn't just walk to the light, he went running to the light.' "
It's been four days, and so many details to take care of before next week, while still running the auto shop.
"Every so often it just overwhelms," Sandy says. "You know, I got up in the middle of the night and found myself checking to see if the toilet seat was up. We've all fallen in, thanks to him. Oh God, I just can't believe it, but then as badly as I feel, I still reflect on the more positive things because I had 27 years of good stuff and just one real crappy day."
*
IF A man's family is a reflection of how he lives, he really does get the last word here, of course, although Sandy asks for one favor.
"If there's any way you could -- could you set the record straight?" she says. "The Pasadena newspaper said a 60-year-old man died at the Rose Bowl.
"He's not 60, and he has a name. And Ron was a great father, a great husband and a wonderful boss."
\o7T.J. Simers can be reached at t.j.simers@latimes.com. To read previous columns, go to latimes.com/simers.
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