Friday, October 21, 2022
Marianne, my mother was a woman of faith. She was a true believer. Growing up she made sure all her four sons and husband attended church every week, received Holy Communion and Confirmation. Three of us attended Catholic school. She made us say Grace before every meal and said to pray three Hail Mary’s whenever we flew on a plane or took a long trip so we’d get there safe. She prayed to Saint Anthony when things were lost and he listened to her. I’ll never forget when He found the keys my father lost somewhere at Great Adventure. They were in a puddle in the grass only partly sticking out. What are the odds of finding them in that giant park without the help of Saint Anthony? And another time she found a small diamond earning in the grass at a backyard wedding for my cousin after praying to Him.
She instilled in us strong moral values and believed in the afterlife and heaven. In fact she told us “The most important thing in life is getting to Heaven.” Now, I’m sure she is there along with her parents, brother and other loved ones who’ve passed on. She founded Birthright of Freehold 50 yrs ago which to this day helps provide food, clothing and shelter to pregnant women in need so they can have their babies instead of the alternative. If she’s not in Heaven I don't know what chance I have!
After God, the one she loved the most was my father. Theirs was true love from the first day they met. They met at a party which neither would have gone to if not for friends persuading them to do so. It was truly an act of God bringing them together. They were soul mates. They stayed married for 69 years through thick and thin. And there was plenty of thick which the four of us sons put them through. Faith and true love held them together. And I owe my own faith in God to her.
My mother had one of the hardest and most important jobs there is. She had the job of raising a family of four boys, cleaning the house, cooking, and most of all loving my father, myself, and my brothers. She would ask us what we learned in school each day and tried her best to give enough attention to all of us. And there was a lot of competition amongst us four boys for her love and attention.
One of the things she really loved all her life was playing games with us and anyone else who wanted to play. Her love for games was passed on to her from her parents and grandparents who she loved dearly. We played all kinds of games including but not limited to Scrabble, Hoops and Ladders, Parcheesi, checkers, chess, Monopoly, Boom or Bust, Risk, numerous card games, and right up to her last days Skippo and Rummy Cube. She really loved to play those two in her later years, especially with her granddaughters who she loved as much as the rest of us. My father played many of those games with her even though many times he didn’t really want to. But he did it for her because he loved her so much. And she won many trophies playing Bridge with my father as her partner.
There is so much more I could write about her but that would take a book. She was one of the best moms any child could have and the best wife any man could have. She was beautiful inside and out. We will all miss her. We will always love her. We will always remember her. We will always cherish her. I look forward to that day when I can see her again in heaven if I can make it there like I know she has.
John Gaeta 10/11/2022
