For those of you that could not attend yesterdays funeral mass, I wanted to attach a copy of my Mothers Eulogy. It was one of the easiest things Ive ever had to write and one of the hardest things Ive every had to do. Anyway, I just wanted to post it so if you wanted to be there and couldnt and can imagine my voice saying the following words, perhaps itll make you feel more like you were there. On behalf of the entire family, we would like to thank you for the outpouring of love and affection that you have shown us over the past few days. People have come from all over the United States to pay their respects. It’s truly overwhelming. Listening to all of your memories was both touching and heartwarming and it was amazing to see how many peoples lives our mother has affected. And when I say many people, I can honestly say I lost count over the past 3 days. I’ve never seen a funeral parlor packed like that for all 4 sessions. We are truly blessed. There really are no words that can truly express what she meant to us. She was our inspirational leader, doctor, shrink, motivator, teacher but most of all she was our mother and our best friend and we were all very blessed to have such a positive role model in our life. Over the past few days we have been celebrating the life of not just our mother, but your friend, sister, aunt, cousin and of course wife. We all exchanged stories that described our mother as a fun, loving, intelligent, caring woman who adored her friends and family and would go beyond the call of duty to lend a hand, an ear or a kind word. She was vivacious, full of life and would have the best times with our dad and her friends, dancing the night away whether it be on a cruise, at a party or in a backyard on the fourth of july singing karaoke, didn’t matter to her where she was, as long as she was with the people she loved and especially with our dad. We all saw the pictures on the boards and the video that showed a woman who always lit up a room with a wide smile, a kiss and a big hug. Words of encouragement were all we ever heard from her. With her strength, support and determination, we were all able to accomplish some pretty cool things. I can go on and on and on about her, but we all know how long I can talk for and it’s been about an hour since the family’s last eaten and I can already see everyone starting to get twitchy. So I’ll try to keep this short. I would like to share a few special thoughts from the past few days that will always stay with me. My brother Matthew had a quote in the paper that said, “She was the one who drove all of us and every single one of our friends all over Staten Island to every sports event.” She drove us to baseball, basketball, golf, drove us around our newspaper routes in the rain, back and forth to grammar school and high school, shuffled off to Buffalo, Fredonia, Binghamton and Cortland. Literally everywhere. She raised four crazy kids and somehow still found the time to have dinner on the table when dad got home and a clean house. I have no idea how she did it, she just did, it was NONSTOP and just plain crazy. Friday night at the nursing home, one of her best friends said, You know Fran, theres a lot of love in this room and were all here for you. I heard her say it and it’s been engraved in my brain ever since. I’d go one further and say that every room she ever entered was filled with love. She was truly a special person. That line will stay with me for my entire life, “there’s a lot of love in this room.” There sure was. Not to be lost in all the condolences and remembrances of our mother is the selfless actions of another one of our heroes, our Dad. He taught us life lessons of love and commitment, honor and respect. The way he cared for our Mother was an act of courage and dedication that has left us all in awe of his strength. We are forever grateful and lucky to have a father who taught us and showed us throughout our entire lives the meaning of true love. Our mother adored him and every person in this church knows why. Since mom was a basketball mom, in the spirit of March Madness, coach Jim Valvano gave a speech to an ESPN audience that I think is very befitting. He said, there are 3 things we all should do every day of our lives. #1 is laugh. You should laugh every day. #2 is think. You should spend some time in thought. #3 is you should have your emotions moved to tears. Think about it. If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that’s a full day. You do that seven days a week, you’re going to have something special.” Rest in peace mom, youll never leave our thoughts and prayers and well continue to strive to make you proud in all we do. Hopefully you know how much we love and miss you and appreciate all the wonderful memories and life lessons you taught us.
Posted on: Wed, 19 Mar 2014 08:43:18 +0000