As told by her daughter Katie
My mom was one of the healthiest people I knew. She had never been to the hospital besides to have her six children. Over the summer months of July and August of 2022, the only symptom my mom noticed was a slight shortness of breath when she went up the stairs. She thought maybe it was allergies and didn’t tell anyone she was experiencing this until two days before we lost her.
She mentioned it to my dad and on August 11, he suggested they go to the ER before they left for a road trip. In the ER, as far as doctors knew, everything was looking good, including her blood pressure and oxygen levels. Nurses were preparing to draw blood, and my mom collapsed with my dad by her side. We lost her at 75. It was determined that she had a pulmonary embolism with almost no warning.
My mother was my best friend, my person. All my mom wanted to do for a career was to be a mom, and that is what she did. She stayed home and raised six children with her husband, who had an intense job as a state trooper. She made time for it all — birthday parties, sporting events, room mother, Girl Scout leader, church volunteer.
When I was born, my dad had to testify in court for an arrest he made, so I was the only birth he missed of the six children, and every single birthday my mom would say to me: “It was you and me, kiddo, from the start.”
My mom absolutely loved birthdays. In every card to her kids, to her grandkids, she would write: “We are so glad you were born.” And she would fill the envelopes to the brim with confetti. St. Patrick’s Day was a close tie to birthdays, as her Irish heritage was something that was celebrated every day. She always had a smile on her face and an Irish twinkle in her bright blue eyes.
She was the matriarch, the leader and the connector in our family. She loved her 14 grandchildren more than anything else, besides the love of her life, my dad. They were married for 54 years and had a love like no other that was centered around their faith and their love of dancing in the kitchen.
When she and my dad decided to have children, she said to him: “Our children will know every day that they are loved.”
We knew.
