Mom's Eulogy...

It's never easy to lose a loved-one. If one lives long enough, one tends to lose too many loved-ones.

My mother died back in November. My sister and I are having her memorial today. I've been elected to give the eulogy.

We had planned to go out onto the beach to scatter a few of Mom's ashes. But unless the rain lets up, I don't see that happening. Such is life...and death.

In the meantime, here is the eulogy I plan to give:

'We're gathering today to remember a special person. Some of us remember her as Mom, Sis, Aunt J, Grandma, Maghee or friend. If we include all her names from her 83 years, she'd be J. D. H. S. C. S. Quite a mouthful of names, but then, she lived quite a life.

"J was born March 6, 1931, changing her only brother, Dave, from an only child to a big brother. From the stories Mom told over the years, Dave was her brother, friend, confidant, ruining her life – at least in her child's mind, when a stranger offered to take her picture in a secluded area, thus making her famous – to protecting her from that same stranger by calling her name as he searched for her to bring her home. There were numerous other stories she told us of her early life, many of which ended up in her book, The Color Chartreuse.

"She graduated from Penn Hall in 1950, then from St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York, in 1952. It was at St. Lawrence that Mom met Dad. The two married in November, 1952. Over the next few years, three children arrived – me (Robin), Amy Anne, and Gregory John. The stories each of us could tell...The move from New York to Connecticut, the blurbs in Readers' Digest – written about the funny things happening in her life and the lives of her children – and stories published in Yankee Magazine(one of which was published in Yankee's A Treasury of New England Short Stories ), then a move to Rochester, New York.

"In 1971, Mom and Dad split up, and Mom decided it was time to move to Florida to be near her parents. Nothing like a little stress in one's life: a cross-country move with three children, an impending divorce, and hitting 40 at a time when 40 was a lot older than it is now. After buying a house in the Tyrone area of St. Pete, Mom went to work for Guide Magazine, then held several teaching positions in the area, a job she'd held at various times in Connecticut and Rochester.

"It was while Mom was teaching that she met William C. They later married, and, after moving to Largo, the two started the small publishing company, publishing materials for teachers and adult-ed classes. While in Largo, they would frequently throw pizza parties for their grandchildren as the kids stuffed envelopes for Longmuir-Jones. Later, Mom and Bill moved to Murray, Kentucky, where Bill was from.

"Mom continued to write, and read several of her short essays on the local NPR radio station. Many of these essays also made it into The Color Chartreuse. While in Murray, Mom began painting again, something she had done while living in New York (before the move to Connecticut). She enjoyed painting immensely.

"Mom was widowed in 1997 with Bill's passing, and remained in Murray for several years, writing, meeting with friends, adopting the occasional stray dog and cat.

"Then Mom met another man, James S, about ten years older than she was. James brought her back to New York, then on to Allentown, where they remained for several years. James died shortly before Mom did.

"Even with everything that happened in Mom's life – a divorce, the death of two husbands, as well as the deaths of her parents and son, Greg, Mom still maintained a bit of an adventurous soul until the end, and had looked forward to a possible move to Oregon. That was not to be, though, and Mom passed away in November, 2014.

"Mom, you'll be missed, and remembered fondly."