Mary's Memorial Service - Last-Memories.com

MARY G. TANNAHILL

Memorial Service 11 a.m.

Webster Conference Center April 30, 2009

PRELUDE

PROCESSIONAL

CD: "Keeper of the Stars"

OPENING REMARKS:

When you called Mary's house you might hear her answer, "Granny Tanny's Bed and Breakfast!" And that's exactly what her home was for her whole adult life. The door was always open at Mary and Bart's house and they loved nothing better than to have a house full of family, a home full of company .. although no one was every actually "company" at their house. You were all a part of her extended family. She never turned anyone away and she always had plenty of food on the table.

You see, Mary loved to cook. Bart told me that her life could be summed up with two words, gambling and cooking. Mary didn't know how to cook for two people, after her kids all grew up and moved out of the house. So there was always extra food for anyone who happen to show up at meal times or even inbetween.

Mary loved to cook old receipies she had gotten from her mother and aunts. Her family like just about everything Mary cooked, except yams. She forgot and left the yams in the oven one time and when they were finally discovered, they weren't too good, so yams was off the list.

Oh, by the way, there will be a meal served here after the memorial service, and yams is the main dish! Just kidding about the yams, but you all are definitely invited to join the family in a meal after the service.

One grandson said that on Sundays, the meal was called "Sunday Surprise" because Grandma took everything that she had cooked during the week and was left over and mixed it together and put it on the table and wanted you to clean it up so she could start all over on Monday.

"I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink." Check that one off for her.

"I was a stranger, I was homeless and you took me into your home and gave me room and board:' Big huge check mark for her there. "I was naked, I was shivering and you gave me clothes to wear." Check!

II

And for those who have done those things, Jesus will make a remarkable statement about Himself in all of this. He has already said this to Mary, "Whenever you did these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was Me .. you did it to Me!" I was the hungry and thirsty one at your front door. I was the homeless and shivering one needed room and clothes. I was the sick and incarcerated one that needed a friend who believed in me and got me well inside and out. I was that person," Jesus will say. "And if you refused to help them, you were refusing to help me. But when you helped them, you were helping me."

That reminds me of a story of an old shoe cobbler who got a letter in the mail from Jesus saying He was coming to the cobblers house the next day. So he straightened up this house

and all day Ion!) the next day, he anxiously waited for Jesus to come to his house, but by the end of the day the only people who knocked on the door of his home were a poor boy who needed a new pair of shoes that the cobbler gave to him and a poor lady who was shivering in the winter's cold and needed a big over coat the cobbler gave one to her and a hungry man who hadn't eaten for days and the cobbler gave him some soup and bread.

He was so disappointed Jesus didn't come. The next day he got another letter in the mail from Jesus thanking him for inviting Him into the cobblers home three different times the day before.

You see there was a time in Mary's early family life when she was working three jobs at the same time and trying to juggle her jobs

When Mary was the "in-office manager" of the glass companies that she and Bart owned and operated, she would at least go in on Mondays because she had to do the payroll. Mary had graduated from Brown Mackie Business College and received an accounting degree and Bart said she just had an excellent business mind .. "good business sense" he called it, and she made the money work and grow. She took Bart's checks and took care of feeding and clothing the kids.

Let's pause here and honor Bart and Mary's marriage and home and family with this song that actually Mary chose for this service today .. she chose all of the songs we are playing during the service for us to hear .. and this one honors Bart and Mary's love for each other,

"My Woman, My Woman, My Wife."

CD SONG: "My Woman, My Woman, My Wife"

I want to read from the Bible, in the Book of the Proverbs, the last chapter 31, where Solomon, King David's son, writes a very fitting description of a woman much like Mary:

PROVERBS 31 "A good woman is hard to find and is worth far more than diamonds. Her husband trusts her without reserve and she richly

"She shops around for the needs of her family and enjoys taking care of them. She gets up early to prepare breakfast for her household and organizes her day. She rolls up her sleeves and is energetic, a hard worker and watches for bargains. She senses the worth of her work and is in no hurry to call it quits at the end of the day."

As I was talking to Bart and his family I would keep writing down phrases like this because Mary's family kept saying these things about her over and over again .. "She lived each day to the fullest." "She was full of fire." "She had tanasity and strength." "She made sure people were taken care of to the very last." "She was on the go all the time." "She lived for the good of other." "She was so proud of all of her children and grandchildre"n and foster children .. her big family." And over and over this family kept saying things like that about Mary. They did say she was stubborn .. but, no doubt, she had to be to take care of all the things and all the people she took care of.

Solomon continues to write about a woman like Mary:

"She loves her home and is quick to assist anyone in need, reaching out to help the less fortunate. She makes sure her children have warm winter clothes to wear."

"She is a woman of strength and dignity and has no fear of old age. When she speaks, she has something worthwhile to say and she always says

"She keeps an eye on everyone in her household and keeps them all busy and productive. She is not a lazy lady. Her children respect her. They bless her for all she has done for them and their children. Her husband is respected in the community and he joins in with these words of praise, 'There are many fine women in the world, but you, [Mary] are the best of them all for me.'''

"So give her the praise she deserves. Praise her for the many fine things she does. These good deeds of hers shall bring her honor and recognition."

"Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out and loudly shouting, 'Wow! What a ride! Thank You, Jesus.'"

LET'S PRAY:

Thank You, God, for giving us Mary. You picked up a very special lump of clay, as it were, back in 1944, in Concordia, Kansas, ·and You molded and shaped Mary in Your image and after Your likeness. Then then You blew the wonderful breath of life into her that has kept her going with her very busy pace of life right on through last Monday. It was hard to see that last breath go out of her body, that air that kept her life with us, breathing her life into ours and helping us breathe better ourselves. She really did invest her life in us in so many wonderful

and caring ways and today in our sadness and sorrow, we feel soooo blessed to have had her in our lives, had her with us for as long as we were privileged to have her.

I pray for her family. I pray for Bart. What a strong love you gave to each of them for each other. Thank You for the providential way you brought them together, to fix a broken window, and together they have been able to fix broken hearts and lives in children in our community. I pray that You will surround Bart with Your love and care and may his days and nights be full of

those precious memories of the love of his life. She will always

I pray for all of Mary's family and for her many, many friends. We have all been totally touched in our lives by Mary in ways we will never, ever forget. She will truly be an unforgettable person in

giving her to us. And now I ask you to join me in prayer:

CATHOLIC PRAYER: played at the black jack table. What fun she had and she even took some of the kids and grandkids with her on their 21st birthday.

Well today we can all say it together as we bid our wife, mother, grandmother, family member and good friend goodbye from this world. "Mary, we all love you the mostest." "And we all are winners because you have been in our lives. We will never, ever be the same. We will never, ever forget you. Godspeed! Until we meet again."

CD SONG: "Ava Maria"

EULOGY:

Mary Giroux was one of three children born to her parents, Alphonse and Ella [Comeau] Giroux. Her birthday is December 9th and she was born in 1944, in Concordia, Kansas. Her father worked for a brick and concrete company there. Mary's two brothers, Frank and Ivan, whom she loved very much, have both preceeded her in death.

Mary's daughters can still do the "C-o-n .. c-o-r .. d-i-a" cheer that their mother taught them from her High School cheerleading days. She graduated from Concordia High School in 1962. She made good grades in school and she was always encouraging her grandchildren to make good grades too. She would give them $5 for an "A" and $2 for a "B" and nothing for an "F". She would pay them by writing out a check and then she would cash it herself and write "void" on the check and give them the cash, but that way she always knew exactly which grandchild she had paid and they couldn't try to get paid twice. I don't know that she learned that system at Brown Mackie College, but she always did stay waaay ahead of her grandchildren. When I asked if Mary collected anything, Bart said immediately, "Money and poker chips! Mary enjoyed money and she loved to gamble." Las Vegas, here we come. I don't know if "What happens in Las Vegas, stays in Las Vegas" for her, but she certainly must have loved that city as many times as she went. Her family said she went so often that the Palace Station casino was actually paying her to come out with a free room and her very own pillow to sit on and fan to help her keep her cool as she

Mary was an avid poker card player and made lots of card playing friends. It even got in to her family's blood because they have their own "Texas Hold 'Em" card tournaments at Mary's house for ages 8 to 24 .. and often times it's the young kids that take the big kid's money.

Mary worked several jobs in her life. She was a waitness at the Country Club and Big John's and if you will remember the Sambo's restaurant on South Broadway with those great dollar pancakes, she managed there for a while. She drove up to Minneapolis, Kansas, and worked as a teller in the Minneapolis bank. She worked at Morrison Glass, the Glass Shop and Mr. Windshield. She was the co-founder and executive director of "Focus on the Future" youth facility and she did some network marketing. No grass grew under her feet. She was one very busy lady. On top of all of that, she a member and past-president of the North Salina Business Association and she was instrumental in helping to clean up the north Salina area. She was also a member and past president of the Saline County Foster Parent Association and a member of the Kansas Children's Alliance. Let me stop and catch my breath here.

And on top of all of that, she always had time for her family. She was making a "time capsule" for each grandchild. When they would send her a card or bring some homework papers to show her, or a grade card they were proud of .. something sentimental, she would put that in their box in the basement and that box held very special memories for her of her growing grandchildren. And how special to be playing a football game in the cold months of Fall and see grandma sitting in the bleachers all bundled up watching and yelling for her grandchildern and all of the boys on the team. She would even go to their away games, traveling up to

four hours to see them play. And when they were racing in their race cars, when the race was finished they would have several messages from grandma wondering how they did. And when she went to see her new grandbaby in the state of Maine, she left Mom and Dad a refridgerator full of food for them to just pop in the oven or microwave to have some easy meals to prepare for the next weeks. Mary loved the holidays, but it wasn't as important that they got together on that day, on Christmas, as it was that they got to spend time with their families first and then all come home. She was very sensitive to her children having family holidays with their own families now, but there was nothing better and that made her happier than having them all around the dining room table all together. Keeping in touch with her family was extremely important for Mary. She loved the family reunion where she would see her Aunts and Uncles and Brothers and their families. And maybe even take a picture of the "Comeau" .. that was her mother's maiden name .. the "Comeau family curse," meaning the women in the family who have big hips. So if someone said, "You're just like your Aunt Mary," it may not have been considered a compliment .. at first .. but as the years went by, and Mary threw her hips as well as her heart into her work, it became a real compliment to have

someone say to her children, "You're just like your mother," .. or to anyone who knew her, "You're just like Mary!" . And one more thing, Mary did things in her way and in her time.

The family called it "Mary's time." She knew what she wanted and she knew how and when she wanted it done. Her family told me about a "red book" that Mary had written out about how she even wanted this memorial service to be done .. the songs to be played and the visitation last night and her viewing before the service this morning. She had attended the funeral for Bart's father. Bart is from Canada and she and many member of her family all crowded into a van and drove all the way into Canada .. I don't know how many hours and when she got there, she found out that Bart's father had been cremated and all Mary got to see were his urn and a picture of Bart's Dad. And she thought, "I could have stayed home and looked at her picture and saved the trip up here. I drove all the way up here so I could see him in a casket fora final time." So she made sure that she was present for you to see her last night and this morning, instead of just an urn and a picture of her to help you with your own closure. That was her wish and then she will be cremated and her ashes will be inurned at the the AIISaints Cemetery later in a private family service. That's why we are doing what and how we are doing this service, Mary's way. And her family said that she even died at Mary's time and in Mary's way.

Welcome home, to Heaven, Mary. As you opened the door of your earthly home and let so many people in, so your Heavenly Father, has opened the door of your brand new eternal home and said, "Well done, good and faithful child of mine. You have been so faithful in your work on earth. Enter now into the eternal joys of your Heavenly rewards." The family had a special thing they would do with Mary. They would try to be the first to speak to her in different places, at different times, on different days. The first one who called her on her birthday and said, "I love you the mostest!" .. Mary would say, "the first to say it wins".