The Eulogy of  Jackie Walters - Eulogy for a Mom - Eulogy by a son

Jackie Walters
 
          Thank you all for coming today to help us say a final farewell to our mom. Your presence is so helpful. Your cards and calls and visits in these past months have been a great encouragement to dad and (sister/brother’ name) and me and our families.
 
          This isn’t exactly a party, but mom always loved it when all her family and friends were together in one place. She’d have loved seeing you all here today. She’d have made it a fun time for all of us. She loved to make people laugh. One of the things she was famous for at parties was her imitations of Tina Turner. Can’t you just see her now, prancing around and singing ‘Proud Mary.’ “Left a good job in the city
Workin' for the man ev'ry night and day… Big wheel keep on turnin', Proud Mary keep on burnin', Rollin', rollin', rollin' on the river…” I hope that you’ll always think of mom when you hear that song and that it will make a smile come to your face. She would have loved it…
 
          Mom was a natural born teacher. She LOVED to teach – to pour knowledge into young minds and help them learn discipline and the love of learning. She taught at ________ school for ____ years. She was an elementary teacher, usually teaching the _____ grade. Her specialty (or at least what gave her the most satisfaction) was to teach kids to read and to do math. She knew that those two skills would give kids a better shot at success in life than just about anything else.   But even outside of school she was a teacher. If she could help one of her grandkids learn something new, she was in heaven.
 
          Mom was always believed in what she taught, even when it was wrong. I remember once she tried to convince us that, when you go to a grocery store to buy something – say, fruit -  you should always get as much air out of the bag as you can before you weighed it. That way you don’t have to pay for the bulk. We kidded her about that for years. I suppose she was right, actually. Air does have weight but you’d have to have a houseful of it to weight anything on a grocery store scale.
 
          Mom had a tender heart. She always wanted to help people. If she could lend a helping hand, she wanted to. If she could be there for you, she would be. Someone asked me to list her best qualities. I said she was selfless. She was caring. She was proud. She had a hard time, sometimes, trusting others… but once she got to know you, there wasn’t a more loyal friend you could find.
 
          I remember when I was heading off to LA to begin my career. I got there and opened my luggage and discovered that she  had put in some note cards for success for me to find: how to wash clothes; how to make chicken soup; how to make pinto beans. She wanted to make sure I was presentable and that I wouldn’t starve to death… That was mom.
 
          Mom wasn’t much into authority structures or institutions. She was confounded by politicians. After watching the news or hearing something going on in Washington, you could hear her mutter her famous, “Damn Government.” She had no use for all the politics going on, messing with people’s lives…
 
          But her greatest love in life was her family. ______ and I were so fortunate to call her ‘mom.’ We learned so much from her. We are the people we are today because of the influence she had on our lives… And she loved her four grandkids: Jordan, Conor, Alexis, and Austin. I hope that the four of you will take some of the great things you saw in your grandmother and nurture those in your own lives… her kindness and willingness to give… her sense of humor and her love of learning. Let those things develop in your lives and you will be blessed.
 
I was talking to Alexis and Austin about their grandmother and what things stand out in their minds about her. Alexis said that grandma was always fun and sometimes silly. She always wanted people to be happy and to laugh. Austin said he will always remember how she loved to teach, both kids and adults.
 
          Mom’s greatest love in life, though, was for dad. They were married for 56 years. They built their lives together, raised their family, travelled, loved one another. They took their marriage vows seriously – to love and to cherish… in sickness and in health… until death do us part.
 
One of the things mom loved to do was going to weddings. She liked the ceremony well enough and she always enjoyed the food at the reception, but what she really went to weddings for was to dance with dad. They were great together. Their love showed us what married love ought to be like. They had rough spots, of course. Every marriage does. But they never gave up on one another and they always came out stronger…
 
          Mom, we’re going to miss you so much. You have been a light in our lives. You have been the teacher of our minds and an example of what love is. We will never forget you and all you have done and what you have meant




           
 
           Eulogy for a mom... Eulogy by a son