My mother was the only person I’ve ever known with a treasure trove of funeral cards from wakes she attended.
Halloween originated with the ancient Celts of western Europe as a celebration of ghosts and spirits in acknowledgment of and hope for an afterlife. Which is all well and good, except that my mother, Gertrude McGrath, may have had a better idea, which we learned about this past summer. Mom died 10 years ago, but it wasn’t until July, during a family get-together in Wisconsin, that my sister Nancy hauled out all Mom’s old photographs.
Mom’s hoarding of them was news to me. I knew my parents attended wakes every month, but she never mentioned her impressive collection. I read aloud another card with the same Jesus picture and flaming heart: William Doyle; At Rest December 23rd, 1976. “Bill was Uncle Jimmy’s best friend,” I said. “He had these penetrating blue eyes, so when he dressed up like Santa Claus at our house one year, all the little kids knew it was Bill because of those eyes.” We took turns reading: • Katherine Z.
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