October 14,
2013
Eulogy
Marianne Janice Mulvey
St. Andrews Catholic church
Apex, North Carolina
(Delivered for Joe by Granddaughter
Shea Wixson)
We are
gathered today, not to mourn Marianne, but to celebrate her life. This is not the moment to shed tears, but to
be thankful that we were given the chance to know her. It is a great honor and pleasure for me to be
here to celebrate Marianne’s life and share some thoughts and memories with
you.
A person’s
obituary is informative but doesn’t always capture the unique nature of the
person. Some things you may not have
known about Marianne include:
1. When she was young she was called “Half
and Half” since she is both Irish and Italian.
But, she was definitely Italian thru and thru.
2. She couldn’t say a curse word or
speak ill of others.
3. She loved working with seniors, and
ran the church homebound program in Colorado for 8 years.
4. When she was in high school she was
saving her money to go to Hawaii, but then met and married me. It took 25 more years before she finally made
it to Hawaii.
5. Her mother picked me out for
Marianne. She had a mutual friend set us up on a blind date. Her mother didn’t like Marianne’s than current
boyfriend. Little did I know that nine
months later we would be married.
6. We lived in the Philippines for 18
months in 1967/68.
7. She traveled to South Vietnam in
November 1967 to visit me.
8. She visited Thailand, Japan, England,
Ireland, France, Germany, and Italy. She
kissed the blarney stone in Ireland.
9. She couldn’t say”no”, and when we
were young I had every encyclopedia set and prepaid family picture package sold
by door to door sales persons.
10. She
never weighed more than 120 pounds, but she still used to go to Weight
Watchers.
11. She
didn’t always understand my sense of humor.
12. She
taught me to be patient –although she didn’t always succeed.
13. She
visited the Vatican twice on separate trips to Italy.
14. She
found and we toured in 2002 both her grandparents’ birth homes (circa 1889) in
Rocco Cilento, Italy.
15. And
one of the highlights of her life was meeting and shaking the hand of Pope John
Paul 11, in August 1993, during World Youth Day in Denver.
Marianne had that unique gift to find joy and
happiness in the most trivial things. She was strong, courageous, honest,
loving, and compassionate. She
thoroughly enjoyed being around people.
Although she didn’t express her opinion often, she still knew how to get
her way. She definitely showed me what
courage, pray, and faith in God was all about.
Marianne didn’t complain once during her 3 year battle with cancer. If strength, courage, and faith could have beat
cancer, she would be with us today. But,
God had other plans for her. I find great comfort in knowing that Marianne is
now free of pain and is resting in peace.
I was honored to be able to stand by Marianne through her struggle. When we were young I called her my “Little
Flower” after St. Terese. That is why I
have a single white rose next to her ashes by the altar. I was going through
Marianne’s purse the other day, and found a medal of St. Therese with the words
“I will let fall a shower of roses. I
will spend my heaven doing good on earth.”
I thank all of you for being here today. The kindness shown by our family and friends
has been outstanding. Marianne was
blessed in having such a loving and caring support group. I know that Marianne is looking down upon us
with a smile on her face.
It is not
how long you lived but how wide a shadow you cast. Marianne’s love and compassion will endure
forever. Marianne, we love you and will
carry your memories in our heart. God
Bless all!
The family
would like to invite everyone to join us after mass at daughter Colleen’s
house, 104 Betsworth, Cary, to partake in refreshments and food.
