A Beautiful Eulogy given by Uncle Bobby

Katherine Normile Mylod
Born - August 2nd, 1905 Chicago
Died - January 17th, 2009 Spring Lake, NJ
Funeral Mass - January 21st, 2009



On behalf of our family, I want to thank you all for your presence. Please help me set the tone. Today is a joyous day.

Standing here is truly an honor; but enormously humbling. Countless family members could deliver similar sentiments - all from the vantage point of the intense individual relationship that each of us shared with this grace filled woman.

As young children, when one of us would approach Mom as a supplicant for her support and wisdom, uncannily she always seemed available to just that person. (And there were nine of us.) And whether it was zig-azag-azoo, hoi, clout, the chock, the donut song, Boo Radley, or countless other LaLa-isms that connected her directly with each grandchild, these words codified and cemented unique relationships.

But no matter who might stand before you, inevitably all retrospective thoughts would intersect with the word Love. In her unique way, this mother, this LaLa as her grandchildren and great-grandchildren affectionately dubbed her, ceaselessly projected the unvarnished love that flows so naturally from a soul perpetually and deeply in prayer - in thought, in word, in deed. Oh, what a precious gift!

From whence does this beautiful eternal life originate? Well, of course, from our Creator. But even her birth and that of her beloved twin, Margaret, who predeceased her by four years, is a story of the power of the prayers to which both were so devoted. Their parents, childless for the first nine years of marriage, asked for intercessory prayer from the Poor Clares of Omaha. About one year later, in 1905, those efficacious prayers helped speed not one child; but these remarkable twins into the world. Incidentally, we just learned this week that this little vignette is memorialized in a book focusing on the life of the Foundress of the Poor Clares in the U.S.

So Katherine, literally born out of prayer, became a woman of unshakable faith and deep spirituality. It is indeed fitting that the cadence of our liturgical calendar this week takes us through the Letter to the Hebrews. Its chapter 11, verse 1 tells us that: “Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen.” How our mother embraced this passage, lived it in her life and passed it on to each of us with such quiet grace. Oh, what a precious gift!

After graduating from St. Joseph’s College for Women in 1927 and a short teaching career, Mom devoted the remainder of her fruitful years to her beloved husband - and our dad, Charles, and to her offspring. Her high level of intelligence, her always present and captivating wit, her innate integrity, her serenity and steadiness under fire, all combined with a deep and abiding humility, would easily have qualified her for any number of successful careers. She rather chose to become a dramatic witness to the notion that full time motherhood is a most powerful and efficacious vocational calling. Her 9 children and their spouses, her 34 grand children and their spouses, her 56 great-grandchildren, (there’s even an expected great-great-grandchild here today) and her loving nieces and nephews are all profoundly grateful for this most fortunate lineal link. We are her living legacy.

Mom may have set some kind of record for Rosary recitals – and isn’t it fitting that on this Wednesday we meditate on the Glorious Mysteries and the Resurrection - particularly lately as her mounting infirmities slowed her. But please know that this woman also possessed a boundless enthusiasm for life. Hers were extraordinary physical gifts that effortlessly emerged in social interactions.

Not too long ago, at Spring Lake Golf Club where she felt so comfortable, she pulled Shakespeare’s classic monologue “All the world’s a stage….” from her encyclopedic memory bank for an admiring visitor to her table.

And her gift for banter – always leavened with a truly inventive wit – perpetually lurked just beneath the surface. She would deploy it almost reflexively – and with an exquisite sense of timing. For example, less than a week ago, our sister, Carol, suggested that she might want a liquid libation. Mom didn’t think so. Persisting, Carol said, “But the doctor thinks this might be a good thing for you right now. I’m going to fix something up and put two straws in it and we can share.” But mother just parried with a playful shake of her finger. “Oh no.” said she, “You draw too fast!” Oh, what a precious gift!

Finally, Mom began a slow and gentle glide path toward her destiny in the Lord. Without a trace of bitterness or frustration, she ceded these remarkable physical gifts one by one back to her Creator – except for that quick and lively mind. More recently she was unable to attend, first daily and then Sunday Mass. Mom did make the supreme physical effort last month to attend one final Mass on the 25th anniversary of her beloved Charlie’s death.

Her daughter, Rosemary, spent the better part of the past 25 years as her constant companion and primary care giver in single minded, loving devotion to our mom. We, all of us – and most surely Katherine, herself – are forever indebted to Rosemary for the quality of these rich sunset years. As a result, Mom was constantly surrounded in love by her perpetually burgeoning family even as she declined.

As this physical reality emerged, several of her children had the privilege of bringing the Lord to her in the Holy Eucharist. Each time and every time became a profoundly spiritual experience. Our mother had such a deep devotion, such a reverence for the mystery of the Real Presence – a core belief of our Catholic Christian faith. Oh, what a precious gift!

So Mom, you have faithfully finished the race. Your marathon spanned almost 45% of our country’s history. We are just as sure that you now have completed a sprint into the arms of the Lord and the eternal presence of Bapa, Gammy, Auntie Marg, Gagop and Scott. We reluctantly let you go Mom. As we thank the Lord for the grace of your happy and peaceful death, we are consoled that you have come to share in the divinity of our Lord who humbled himself to share in our humanity.

Katherine Normile Mylod. Oh, what a precious gift!

We love you, Mom!