“Beautiful young people are accidents of nature, but beautiful old people are works of art. “

— Eleanor Roosevelt supposedly said that.

My Mom, as you have seen in the slideshow,  was fortunate enough to be both. 

Not just in the looks department, where she certainly ranked highly,

but also in her spirit, her tenacity, her intellect and also in just how friking funny she was.

In this she had always inspired me. Not in the beauty department, clearly. But everything else about her, absolutely. 

I aspired all my life to be considered in the same league as her when it comes to communicating and how to deal with people. 

She is rather famous, or perhaps infamous for not suffering fools lightly 

And I must admit I too l, on rare occasions l, exhibit that trait myself. 

But what made her truly special to everyone, in my opinion anyway, was she was just such great company. 

She was fun to be around. Interesting, engaged. 

She would drive the conversation, get everyone involved and as enthusiastic as she was. 

And because of that, so many times it made talking with her feel like a special event. 

Culture, art, politics, what have you. Mom had an opinion, and if you disagreed with it, if you were brave enough to challenge her, you had better come packing the right ammunition to try to change her mind.

She inspired all who were fortunate enough to know her, many of whom I have heard from over the past few days letting me know just how lucky we all were. 

They’ve said things like “I’ve always admired absolutely everything about her.” And “it’s impossible to capture all of her fabulous qualities.”

I agree, but of course I am biased, as I am the baby in the family, which was something she could never fully get over, “Gavin, how did you get so big?” 

But besides that one little flaw, to me my Mommy was perfect.

What a life and what a legacy my Mom lived and left behind. 

I would like to thank Rod for all he has done for my Mom the last nearly four decades- especially these last few years. she loved you so much and it was inspiring to see how much you loved her.

and my sister Jane for being just so generous, patient and supportive. Honestly, in the eternal sibling rivalry, after lagging so tragically behind for so long as Mom obviously loved me best, you won out at the end as you proved which one of us was the better kid. 

All the family for that matter – Gerry, Charlie, Jack and Anna have all been amazing, 

and of course my wife Leslie, who is currently incapable of speech. Before we were married, my Mom got down on one knee and proposed to Leslie for me, because in her opinion I was taking too long.

 That took care of that and we’ll be celebrating our 35th anniversary next week. 

Leslie called my Mom, Mom. Because, to Leslie, that’s what she was. Our beautiful Mom and our inspiration.

And thank you all for coming. Cheers