Eileen Alice Hueston

Born at home in Brooklyn, NY, on July 31, 1941, she was the youngest of six children of Patrick Joseph and Mary Brennan Campbell, Irish immigrants who had met in a Dublin orphanage. A high school graduate who chose to work to support her parents instead of attending college, Eileen made education her focus when she later raised her five sons. She taught each child to read before entering school to provide them with the head start that was impossible in her childhood home.

When her marriage ended with four boys still at home, Eileen needed to work to support the family but wanted to continue to serve as a full-time mother. She took a bookkeeping position with the local school district for the practical reason that its hours let her see her sons off in the morning and be there when they came home. Despite no training or experience for the position, she excelled and used the income to keep her family in Newport Beach so that her boys would not lose their schools or their teams. She came straight from work to every game. Unable to afford the team dinners wealthier families hosted, she canvassed local businesses for water polo fundraiser donations so her sons would stand on equal ground. And she took a second job every Christmas, even long after the house had emptied, to create special moments despite lean budgets.

Her ambitions for her sons ran past anything she had been offered herself. One went to Dartmouth; three were recruited to play water polo in college, and Neil started for UCLA's national championship team. Grandchildren were her later joy — the granddaughters especially, for a mother of five boys.

Eileen was preceded in death by her parents and her brothers, Patrick, John and Robert. She is survived by her siblings, Gerald (Marian) of Pompton Plains, NJ, and Mary Ann Campbell Maecker of Colorado Springs, CO; her brothers' widows, Brighid Campbell and Pam Campbell; her beloved sons, John (Mabelle), Brian (Gina), Scott, Charles (Jodi), and Neil (Nikki); her grandchildren, Taran, Ronnie, Kinsale, Shea, Brendan, Natalie, Bailey, Presley, and Miles; and her nieces and nephews, Kathy Hamill (Chris), Trish Horodnik (Bo), Maureen Campbell, Brian (Susan) Maecker, and Alison Campbell, and their children, Aidan, Liam, Kyle, Meghan, Ryan and Evan.

Family first, big dreams for her sons, and a fighter for every one of them.

A celebration of life will be held September 27 at 10:00 a.m. at Pacific View Memorial Park & Mortuary in Corona del Mar, CA.