EULOGY

She's a wife, a mother, a daughter, a sister, a cousin, a niece, an aunt and a friend to everyone here today. Loved by everyone here today.

Survived by Mike, Heidi, Jon, myself, 3 birds and 6 dogs (Tiny, Bijou, Bruce, Belle, Koko and Spike).

I've thought long and hard about what to say and while it's easy to remember and talk about the difficult times, it's best to talk about the not-so-difficult times. The good memories and the good times.

Her style was memorable. She was a little bit country, a little bit Disney (a little Goofy too), a whole lotta Warner Brothers and a little Beanie. Years ago I was buying her Beanie baby bears along with the plastic cases to put them in. I found this Beanie baby value book in her desk. They were some of the many things she loved.

Onto good times:

We used to play Monopoly quite a bit. It was family fun day on Sunday and we'd whip out the Monopoly board. She'd beat us. Every time. I don't think she ever lost a game. 20 years later I know better. It's not the initial cost of the property you own, but the number of hotels. And location is everything!

Food. Cooking was second nature to her. Everyone that had the pleasure of tasting her cooking knows what I'm talking about. Whether it was something as simple as macaroni and cheese, or something as complex as Thanksgiving dinner, she never missed a beat.

I used to come home and find her sitting in the office typing 190 words per minute with a bird sitting on her head. Co-owner of Danserv secretarial services, she used to whip out reports, transcripts and books in no time flat. It was pretty amazing to watch. The electric typewriter would zip accross the page and it would ding every few seconds.

Her laugh. It was infectous. It wasn't a cackle, or a giggle, but a laugh. A laugh that would cause everyone else to laugh too -- even the birds. They have her laugh. They also call my name in her voice. I'd be sitting down in the living room, the birds would call "David!", I'd scream back "what!" and it wasn't her. Now after they call my name, they laugh like her. She'd be in there cleaning their cage, they'd laugh, she'd laugh and it would go on for several minutes. The birds will continue to laugh like she did and wheneer I hear it, it brings a smile to my face.

Onto her likes:

There was a time when she took it upon herself to contact Dennis Green, former coach of the Minnesota Vikings. She went on to tell him how much she loved the Vikings since Fran Tarkenton, wrote up a nice long letter and she got a call from him inviting her to a game as his guest. She was a strong woman, a great woman and was never afraid to tell anyone about herself and go after what she wanted. She had the full Viking outfit too. Everything from Viking socks to a Viking jacket and even a Viking Beanie Baby bear.

She also liked Richard Simmons, Barry Manilow and Neil Diamond. Some things just can't be explained.

Onto good memories:

A couple recent memories stick out. February 23rd 2002. Mike and Heidi Pinheiro's wedding day. The pictures of her from that day are beyond words. We're going to leave a couple with her. One with her and her 3 sisters, Beverly, Gail and Terri. The other with Heidi, Mike, Jon, Dad and myself. She looked wonderful that day. She always has. It was great to see her walk down the aisle, get up and dance a time or two during the reception, enjoy dinner and to be able to see her daughter get married. She truly enjoyed that day. She told me so and I could see it in her eyes and could definitely see it in her smile.

March 15th, 2003. Her birthday. I had her, Dad and Jon over for pizza and cake. These are the cards I got her. What every 57yr old woman could ever want. A card for a 5yr old next to a card for a 7yr old. Here's what they say:

(read cards)

These cards, a plant and a smiley face balloon made her day. And that was more than she'd ever ask for.

Regrets:

Heidi put together a photo album full of pictures that Mom had in boxes but never got the chance to give it to her. Pictures of herself when she was a kid, all the way up to our most recent pictures of her at Mike and Heidi's wedding. Pictures of us kids when we were young with frizzy hair, and pictures of us now with frizzy hair. Pictures of Dad when he was a handsome sonofagun and pictures of him now where he's still a handsome sonofagun. There's a lot of great memories in that photo album. We have it here and will be bringing it with us to the reception hall for others to look through and share stories.

We need to remember other good memories together. Today, tomorrow, forever.

Rest in peace Mom. We love you. We all love you.