Because so many people couldn't hear this, I thought I'd share it at this site. Mom?s Eulogy ? 5/19/10 Thank you F. Markey for your kind words, and F. Murphy for being here today to celebrate the Mass. 
It was suggested that I keep this short. And one of my sisters said, you can?t just get up there and cry. I?m aiming for one out of two. The last two years have been very difficult for my mother and all of us. I felt like my mother became another person, someone I almost didn?t know anymore. So it was important for me to remember who she really was before the difficult time of cancer and chemo began. I know we?re only supposed to mention a person?s strengths at a time like this, but I have to mention one of my mother?s most serious flaws. It?s a flaw that most mothers have. For some explainable reason they can?t remember their children?s names. It?s baffling. Almost daily, when she wanted me to do something, she?d fly through our names, Sally, Dorothy, Mary, Jimmy, Josie, Geraldine. That was the dog. I could take the other names, but the dog?s was kind of tough. I think it might have affected my self esteem. Just a few years ago, when she ran through that list of names, I said, Mom, you remember me, #3, your favorite. It didn?t work. I got a laugh out of her, but she never played favorites. She had a subtle sense of humor, especially about herself. She was the first to admit she was never a fancy cook. A couple of well used, simple recipes and that was it. But that didn?t explain why her kitchen knives were always too dull to cut with. One time when I was visiting and sawing away at a thick piece of broccoli, I said, Mom, I can?t even cut a piece broccoli. It won?t fit into the steamer. Wait a minute, she said. She went outside and came back with a large pair of rusty pruning sheers, and says, will this help? She solved many of her children?s dilemmas with humor. I can?t think of Mom without thinking of Sally and Charlie Cheever. Her best friend and the best brother-in-law anyone could ask for. My mother told me that she and Sally, when they were growing up, were often sent away from the dinner table to stand in the hallway until they stopped giggling. One look at each other would send the girls into fits of giggles. So when she moved here to San Antonio in her late 50?s she sometimes joined Charlie and Sally for dinner at 501. And every so often she and Sally would look at each other and these uncontrollable giggles would overtake them again. She said Charlie just looked at them, straight faced, as if to say, I don?t get it, what is so funny. Only they knew. When I lived in Boston, I called my mother once a week, mostly just to hear about her zany adventures down at the coast with the Cheevers and friends, some of you are here today. One time the boat got stuck in a mud flat, Mom and Sally got out to push. I don?t know how Charlie got the job of steering and they got to push, this was her version of the story. The boat got unstuck and started floating away. They realized they would be stranded on the mud with no simple way of getting back into the boat. They both made a flying leap, and these were not young women. Mom managed to scramble inside, Sally, a little shorter, was stuck half in and half out of the boat. I said, Mom you could have really hurt yourself. She said Yeah, I guess I could have. Who cares when you?re having that much fun. I think that?s how Mom and her friends stayed so young. Even though she kept a beautiful welcoming home, she was a notorious collector of papers, kept in closets and drawers, that several of us had the fun of sorting through and shredding thousands of pieces of paper when she moved over to Incarnate Word. One day during this downsizing event, she sat on her stairs with me lamenting the fact that she had a real problem keeping up with all the paperwork and mail, and not throwing things out. I said to her, well Mom, if you?re the type of person who collects, that means you are also a great collector of people. Look at all the wonderful friends you have. The Cheevers, all your nieces and nephews who want to spend time with you, your wonderful Bible study friends for 20+ years, not to mention your six kids who love you. I think it helped her to see the closets full of stuff isn?t what defines our lives. It?s really family and friends, and she had many fans in that arena. That was another thing about my mother, she looked for the good in people. Years ago, 
 there was someone working a grocery store who had numerous piercings on his lip and face. He looked kind of lost and she said to him, very sincerely, you have the most beautiful smile. She said he looked like it was the first compliment he?d ever received in his life. He was beaming. After that, every time he saw her getting into the electric cart which she was using at that time, it was as if the queen had arrived. It was important for her to get the names of the people who served her at the cafeteria at Incarnate Word or wherever she went. That?s a beautiful quality. She told me several years ago, without any regret, she wasn?t one of those people who accomplished big things in her life. She said Sally practically forced me to join all these organizations when I got here, and I had a lot of fun doing it, made many friends, but I was never a leader or organizer or a president. We need leaders, but there are also quieter gifts. Like being the cheerleader to those leaders, which she was for so many of us, including my father and myself. There are gifts like praying for family, friends and strangers, her country, everybody, she did that a lot. She held our family together over the years with lots of calls and visits and thousands of photos she duplicated times six so we could all keep up with each other?s lives. Another quiet gift, was her green thumb. Her plants responded to her kindness the same way people did. I can still see her quietly trimming and fussing over her plants in the patio, where she found peace. After six kids, who wouldn?t. She grew up on a farm and passed on to all her children a love for God?s creation. She had a joy for life that just didn?t quit, it out lived her troubles. I told her she was the come back kid. The last and most important memory of my mother will always be her ability to forgive, to move on and not hold a grudge. That doesn?t come easily to most of us humans and I know she had to work at it. When we were sorting through hundreds of her books before she moved to Incarnate Word, I think it was Jean Cheever who said, you can sure tell this is Irene Prescott?s bookshelf. Most of the books were about How to forgive or How to relate better to your children, books on prayer life, or practicing gratitude, or biographies of saints. It went on and on like that. I was always in awe that she wasn?t bitter over many disappointments in life, and I know that came from a faith she nurtured. We weren?t a perfect family, not by a long shot, I think her faith and prayers kept her kids, at least this one, from going in a much worse direction than we might have. She had that simple belief that God died for our sins through Jesus so that we could be with Him forever. Where there is no cancer or chemo, and where someday we might be joining Mom and Sally, out-of-control giggling for no reason at all. Thank you all of you for being here today and for being a blessing in my mother?s life through your friendship and love. A special thanks to Mom?s patient, loving caregivers these past 2 years.

I was so saddened to read of Irene's death. What a lovely woman she was and I was always so happy when I got to see her. May God comfort you in your time of grief, you have lost a wonderful mother, indeed.

Mrs. Prescott I will miss you and always think of you and our Saturday evenings watching Lawerence Welk. Love and God bless. Edie

The Officers and Members of The Daughters of The Republic of Texas 
send their heartfelt sympathy and love to all the family, friends and 
 members of her Alamo Mission Chapter. Know 
she will be missed by all. Evelyn Reininger, Chaplain General 
The Daughters of the Republic of Texas

To Dorothy and family... It is with great sadness that we have to write this note to all of you. Your sweet mother was a pure "angel on earth" to so many people...not a cruel bone in her body. 
She was known as "Reenie" to us because the twins just couldn't get "Irene" out correctly when they were tots. 
We are all so sorry for your loss... Reenie was deeply loved and will be dearly missed. We pray you find strength and peace through the wonderful memories you all share. 
We are sad and, yes, it hurts terribly, but please Trust in God...He knows what He is doing. WE LOVE YOU DOROTHY! All our love, 
The Teykls 
Craig, Connie, Cassie, Ashley & Jamie

OBITUARIO

Irene Mary McKinney Prescott

26 agosto, 1926 – 14 mayo, 2010

Porter Loring Mortuary - McCullough

Muestre su apoyo

Comparta Un Recuerdo

Comparta
Un Obituario

Obtenga actualizaciones

Servicios