The below letter was written by a good friend and colleague of Mary's. Pat Blahovec (Mama B to me) sent this to the church and it was read by the priest at my mom's funeral. We had no idea she had sent this and so we sat, eyes welling with tears, both stunned and grateful for her spot on recollection of my mom. While Father Ken was reading it aloud, I whispered to my sister "I think she covered everything we have in the Eulogy, and maybe better, ha" Christina smiled and nodded. As daughters, it's easy for us to say how great our mom was--it's almost expected. But to hear a close friend and colleague to my mom echo the same sentiments, touched everyone's hearts; she described perfectly Mary Hall's character -- love through actions.
Thank you Mama B for your beautiful homage to Mom and being her friend over the years.
Mary Hall
Mary was the model mom for
the neighborhood. She did it all-and
always willingly, humbly and with a smile.
She raised 5 children, attended all their school and sporting events. Volunteered countless hours at the school,
PTA and CCD functions.
Mary would arrive at a PTA meeting with one in a
stroller, one on her hip, and 3 in tow. She might have been a couple of
minutes late (wonder why) but she was always there. And always the first to volunteer for
anything. She was a good worker and
obviously a good organizer. She was
part of a group of parents that would recycle newspapers and plastic as a
fundraiser. There was a huge dumpster in the school parking lot, and there
would be Mary -in the dumpster placing recycled items before school started.
Mary could do
anything. She could pull off a meal for
7 in a minute with one hand while helping with a school project with the other.
She could fix everything. Having lots of
mouths to feed she sometimes had a car that was not always functioning
well. It was not unusual for her to pull
off the road and add water to the radiator or work on the starter switch. But the best was when she was in the Harrison
Park Elementary School parking lot. She
had her van. When she slid open the side door, it just kept going and fell off
the track, resting in the parking lot.
Not too much for Mary, she fixed that too. She said, “I’ll have to tell Dan about
that.” It didn’t even faze her!
When her children got a
little older, she became the nurse at Harrison Park Elementary School. Now she was the mother to 600--nothing for Mary.
She cared for each one as if they were her own. The kids loved Mary and sometimes she had to
set limits on the “frequent flyers” who would rather be with Mary in the Health
Room than in class. Mary put her all
into the job. Her supervisor never even
checked in on her work-no need, it was always done and then some.
Mary’s Catholic faith was
very important to her. She made sure her
children were brought up in the Church.
She was active in their formation process at church and at home. When the Hall family came to church-they
needed a whole pew! They sat in front
and never left early!
I have missed Mary for
several years. She was my sounding board
professionally and personally. She
touched countless lives and her service was Christ like. Always
for others, never for Mary. She
was a faithful servant, well done Mary.
I am so proud of how her
family stepped up to help her during her illness. Caring for her at home was not an easy
task. I truly don’t know how they did
it, until it occurred to me that there was a little bit of Mary in each one of
them. That’s how they did it.
Pat Blahovec
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