Rest In Peace, Mary Devine, 6/5/1925-6/6/2008

-
My Aunt Mary died yesterday. This picture was taken at my cousin Jack's 50th birthday party two years ago-she's the one on the far left. The man on the far right is her younger brother, John-my cousin Jack's father. He's the last of the three Devine "children" - first my mother died of Alzheimer's in 1998 and now Mary died, of we think diverticulitis, the day after her 83rd birthday.

I will miss her terribly; she was my aunt, my godmother, my role model, and in many ways, my hero. She taught me about faith, hard work, independence, generosity and love. She was always there, always forgiving, and even though she could be bossy and domineering (as I've been told I can be, too!) she always had the best of everything in her heart. Anne made some calls today to let folks that she worked with know of her passing, and one of the women said that people at The Royal Globe (the insurance company where she worked for 45 years) found her intimidating because she was so smart. Smart she was, and funny, and quick and thorough. She didn't suffer fools gladly and she got the job done. Boy I sure hope I am like her - I'll need those qualities now.

Rest in peace, Aunt Mary. I only wish you had a more peaceful end but I am sure now that your suffering is over. I love you and I'll miss you.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is it really 2023?

-
 Where have the pandemic years gone? Feels like "down the drain." It's been nearly two years since I last posted, and although life has returned to some semblance of "normal," whatever that means, I'm still having difficulty remembering when things happened. I've taken to saying, "Is that BC (before COVID)?" And now it's Passover and Easter again. Back to large seders--fourteen this year on the second night of Passover-and sunrise services. Wishing everyone a healthy and happy Easter/Passover/Ramadan. Peace.
Read more

Coronavirus and the election? Thank heaven it's over

-
 Things are weird in the Corey-Knapp household. I just found a draft of a post I wrote in July but never published. Oh well, that's old news. We're going a little stir crazy. Oh, we've been out of the house. We've gotten haircuts, gone shopping, been to the dentist (both of us), and even a few doctor's appointments. Okay, more than a few--remember, we're old. But now that we're both retired we would like to be traveling, to somewhere other than Whole Foods. And now this (as John Oliver would say)-the election! I am stunned that so many people could vote for Trump after these past four years, especially after these past eight months. But I'm particularly stunned that people who call themselves Christians could vote for him. When I see signs like "Catholics for Trump" or learn that friends of mine think he's done great things for the economy, I realize that we live in two different Americas. A friend recently posted on Facebook "Well,
Read more

Summer Vacation

-
Image
How great to be able to post about summer plans, even though one set of plans was precipitated by my dad's death. A big part of our summer (unplanned for!) is cleaning out the house on Rhodes Street. My dad died on May 29th, at 99 years and 4 months (although I’ve been saying 99 ½). The picture below was taken on January 11, 2020, Dad's 98th birthday. We were at Jonathan's in New Hyde Park. Jonathan's was dad's favorite restaurant, and where we had the funeral lunch. We moved into the house on Rhodes Street in New Hyde Park in 1955 and although we cleaned it out a bit when mom died in 1998 there is still a ton of stuff, including furniture, that nobody wants.  My sister Gini, my brother-in-law Bob, Anne, and I have spent five full days working on this over the last six weeks. Two of those days included filling a dumpster with the help of our cousin Jack. The plan is one more day of work and then we’re hiring someone who specializes in cleaning out houses. Once it’s
Read more