Eulogy...

spoken on November 27, 2006 at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church...by Lisa

28 more days until Christmas
34 more days until it's 2007

What a year this has been for our family.

On April 26th mom went into the hospital...by the 28th we knew she had a brain tumor...on May 1st, surgery which was followed by 42 days of radiation and chemotherapy.

On Sept. 17th, Art went into the hospital and on October 22nd he passed away - Larry, Eileen and myself were at his side.

On Sept. 27th mom got the news that her cancer was back and she didn't have much time left.

My mom's favorite holiday was Christmas. Everything about Christmas this year will surely remind us of her.

28 more days until Christmas.
34 more days until it's 2007.

Growing up with my mom and dad I lived in a household of love. My parents laughed, played games with us, took Larry and I on adventures - camping vacations!...they yelled, cried, all the "normal" things families do. We ate dinner together every night. It seemed like when we first moved into Four Seasons our power went out a lot on Friday nights. That was our Euchure night...Larry and Mom against Dad and me.

Our camping adventures are too numerous to mention all of them, but they did take us to Yellowstone, Niagra Falls, Mt. Rushmore and Disney World.

Mom was Dad's everything - his love of his life.
Dad was Mom's Prince Charming. Their romance is what I always wanted to grow up and have someday.

My mom was the mom everyone could count on. Anything Larry and I did, she was one of the parents involved. Mom was the one who would host the Halloween parties for all the cousins. She was always thinking of others. I recall her working full-time yet still having projects to do for more than one organization. All my friends knew if they needed and ear, they could count on my mom. She would always listen. Mom wasan accomplice too. Once one of my boyfriends "gang" of friends took all the rakes and flags from the Four Seasons golf course and showed up at our front door. Security was after them! After making the guys put the rakes and flags back - which I am sure was just in one place - my mom drove the "get-away" truck with 8 to 10 guys in the back.

In the Fall of 1979 my parents sat Larry and I down at the kitchen table. My parents told me they were going to have a job for me the next summer. 'You know that baby you were always praying for us to have, Lisa?' they said. 'Well, we're going to have it next May.' I was 15 when they told me. Larry was 13. He asked when they "did it". Dad said, "we don't know exactly." And Larry said, "you mean you did it more than once?" In the end it was decided that Eileen must have been a band camp baby. That was the only time Larry and I were gone from the house.

In June of 1985 mom's world shattered. Life changed. It took a long time for mom to bounce back. Both Larry and I were in college and Eileen was only 5. I realized much later in my life how depressed my mom was.

When Art entered our lives he was not our dad. But he did offer us a special gift - he brought mom back to life. I did witness Art's love to my mom. He worshipped her...she was his everything.

I am so glad she was able to find love twice in her life. She deserved it. I know my dad would like Art. He wasn't the same as my dad, but he loved my mom with his whole heart, just like my dad.

I would like to end with a poem Eileen and I found about cancer, which I realize I have learned this year...

What Cancer Cannot Do ..............author unknown

Cancer is so limited.

It cannot
cripple LOVE
It cannot
shatter HOPE
It cannot
corrode FAITH
It cannot
destroy PEACE
It cannot
kill FREINDSHIP
It cannot
suppress MEMORIES
It cannot
silence COURAGE
It cannot
invade the SOUL
It cannot
steal eternal LIFE
It cannot
conquer the SPIRIT