My Mom passed away at Christ Hospital, Cincinnati in October of 2011. She was 93, and for all but the last couple of years, had a healthy life that she lived to the fullest. Even at the end, when she was struggling to breath, she was still “all there”. We got our “orders”, and all of us got to say goodbye. Here’s what I said at her funeral that Saturday.
We have heard great words of praise for our mom. We all know her courage, her loyalty, her tremendous personality. Terry, Pat and I were privileged to have her as our mother. What did we learn from her?
We learned to be involved with the world. Mom was from London, she and dad fought in the second great war, they traveled the world and they changed the world by helping to bring the great events of our time to everyone’s family room through television. Mom and Dad gave us a unique perspective of involvement in what happens, and a desire to help make the world better.
We took this into our lives:
Terry through surgery and caring, Pat through her canvas and her political action, I do it one kid at a time at school. But we all got that drive from Mom and Dad; they cared and they taught us to care.
We learned to care about individuals. In this church, all of you were touched by Mom, by her compassion, her desire to help, her willingness to give that most important gift…. time…., to her friends.
We learned about grace, the ability to make people feel good in the most difficult times. Even at the last, when it was time for Mom to go, she was still thanking the nurses, the doctors, and apologizing for causing us to grieve.
As Dick Neergaard would say, Mom was the queen, with the grace of the queen and the style of the queen, even at 93 years old, even at the end.
We learned to have fun, and value friends. As we mourn today, don’t forget there was nothing Mom liked more than a party!!! Even towards the end, no matter how bad the day had been, Mom “turned it on” when it came to seeing people. She loved it, she loved them, and she would love what we are doing now. It is what she wanted.
And most importantly of all, we learned the great gift of love. There is no greater love story than that of Mom and Dad: born in the bombing of London, nurtured through the trials and turmoil of the great American television boom; raising kids in the 60’s, enjoying the life of travel that the 80’s and 90’s brought. They were inseparable, they were one, they were the epitome of what commitment to each other meant. ‘”Til death do us part” was only a part of their commitment, “to live life as one” is the greatest gift Mom and Dad had to teach us all.
