A Thank You Note for Mom

My eulogy for Mom was based on a thank you note I wrote her in 2010 for an ACTS Retreat she was attending.  The letter is as follows:

A Thank You Note for Mom

Dear Mom (Thelma Drouet for those who don’t know who I am):

I want to take part in your ACTS Retreat by sending you this Thank You note.  While I don’t have the pretty stationary and card program that you use for your sweet cards, I think you will know that this comes from the heart.

I want to keep this short so I thought I’d just list some of the things that I wanted to thank you for.  The list grew into this:

1. Love
2. Caring
3. Faith/Church
4. Expectations/Education
5. Sacrifice
6. Food
7. Family/History/Cajuns
8. Dancing
9. Personality
10. Friends

First, thank you for your Love that you have given me and shared with all you come into contact with.  Your actions in 2-10 above reflect the Love you have for everyone you care for, especially your family.  It is easy to take for granted a Mother’s Love when you have MawDee for a mom but I do realize that not all humans are so lucky or blessed.  I only have to look at Pop’s situation to realize that all of us do not have the kind of mother’s Love that I have been blessed with.  Many souls in this world go to bed every night wishing that they had a mother that loved them.  I never had that to worry about in my life.  Thank you for such perfect motherly Love.

Second, your Caring for others is a great example to me and Kathy and all of your grandchildren and great grandchildren.  All who know you feel your deep Caring and know that they can count on you to be there in their times of need and trouble.  Thank you for Caring and passing that great gift on you future generations.

Third, your unbreakable Faith and love of the Catholic Church is something I truly admire about you and thank you for.  Your love of Maw Maw’s Faith shows through in all of the respect and love you have for the Church.   Your Faith is the gold standard as for as I’m concerned and I thank you for living in that Faith for all the world to see and setting an example for all of us.

Fourth, your high Expectations of your family and me are greatly appreciated.  You expected nothing but the best from me and expected me to do the right thing.  I have strived to do just that—whether it meant doing my best in school and making good grades to staying out of trouble and leading a life that you would be proud of me for.  Thank you for such Expectations—it has made me a better man and father.

Fifth, thank you for all of your Sacrifices on behalf of the family and me.  It did not go unnoticed that you worked a second job to make enough money to send me to Rice.  Your continued willingness to work when others of your generation stayed at home in order to afford the Lake home was a great Sacrifice.  And finally, your great devotion and Sacrifice for Pop during his long illness in his later years did not go unseen.  Thank you for your Sacrifices.

Sixth, how about that Food!  We all know that all who know you love your Food—not only because it is delicious but also because it represents the warmth and love you have for those who eat it.  My love of cooking comes from you and I thank you on behalf of all those who you have welcomed into your home and made a meal for them on the fly.  No wonder they keep coming back!

Seventh, thank you for your love of your Family History, especially the Cajun heritage.  From the food to the language to the Cajun love for life; you epitomize that Joie de vivre.  Merci Beaucoup!

Eighth, I love your love of Dancing and I thank you for passing on that Dancing gene to Kathy and me.  When you danced with Pop, I remember the great line about Ginger Rogers and Fred Astair—he was a great dancer but Ginger did all the same moves going backwards and in high heels!  I never had to worry about you following me when we Danced—as you always said, ‘you just lead and I’ll follow in whatever you do’.  Thank you for your love of Dancing and sharing it with Kathy and me!

Ninth, I thank you for your Personality and people skills.  Everyone knows Thelma or Maw Dee when she comes into the room.  You never meet a stranger and make everyone, even the lowest clerk, feel that they are the CEO of store.  Thank you for being that way and sharing your Personality with all of us.

Tenth and finally, I thank you for all your Friends going back to your old high school days and including your new Friends from your new church in Buna.  Because of the items mentioned above, your black book is filled to the brim of Friends old and new.  Thank you for sharing them with all of us.

Your loving son,

Kirwin

Keely Drouet Langkowski's Eulogy for MawDee

MawDee

Everyone knows who Cher is, who Madonna is, who Prince, Bono, or Pink are … and everyone knew MawDee.  Like those famous people I mentioned, MawDee only needed one name to be identified.  She was MawDee – just like this unique name that she was called by all her grandchildren, MawDee was one-of-a-kind.  She had a trendy grandma name before it became trendy, SHE was the original.
As I have been thinking through all the many memories I have had with my MawDee over the past 40+ years, one of the more prominent memories I have is about the story of her name.  How many of you know how she got the name MawDee?  Well, I remember being a young girl and when I would talk about MawDee to my friends or tell them she was coming over, they had never heard of that name.  It certainly wasn’t unusual to me, that was just her name and I never knew her by anything different. I remember asking my mom about her name and why were there no other kids with a grandmother who went by the same name and to my surprise, my mom told me that MawDee didn’t start off with that name, she was first called MawMaw.  What???  MawDee wasn’t a MawMaw in my mind – the name didn’t fit.  The story goes that Damon, my older brother, was the first grandchild for MawDee & Pop but not the first grandchild on my mom’s side.  My mother’s mother went by MawMaw and MawDee did too … at first.  Mom explained to me the story of when she told Damon that MawMaw was coming to see him and he got all excited and then the MawMaw he was expecting didn’t show up and he was confused and disappointed.  Mom calls up MawDee and says – we need to do something about your name.  My mom had always called MawDee “Momma Drouet” so she suggested a clever combination of Maw + Dee for Drouet and just like that, we had our MawDee. 
MawDee was a force, she was extroverted to the nth degree and when she entered a room, you knew it.  I have many memories of going with her to the grocery store and by the time we left the store, the stock boy, the checkout lady, and the guy bagging our groceries knew our life story --- this is not an exaggeration.  Just back in August, when Lars and I brought our kids to visit her, she paraded us around and let everyone know who we were and she was beaming about it.  And while that may have been a bit embarrassing at times when I was younger, I knew it was her way of showing us how much she adored us and loved us.  That, I knew, was never a question – my MawDee loved me with everything she had.
When she moved into Atria, we went to visit her about a month after.  In less than 30 days, MawDee was one of the most popular residents there and everyone knew her name.  And, how could you not?  She LOVED people, people fed her soul, and she genuinely wanted to engage with others, she wanted to get to know them, and she wanted them to know she cared.
She was the quintessential grandmother – when we went to her house, she ran the equivalent of a diner.  She fixed 20+ meals a day and provided every dessert imaginable.  Her menu was not divided up by breakfast, lunch, or dinner – if you wanted Cherry Pie for breakfast, guess
what – you got it!  And every night, you had your choice of 10 different kinds of Blue Bell ice cream.
We had a jam packed itinerary too – days full of swimming in the lake, fishing, and going to Lake Tejas.  We would play card games, dominos, and Chinese checkers galore.  And of course, every day in the late afternoon, we’d hear a knock at the door and one of her many friends would be coming by for coffee and pie – every day.  And these visits weren’t planned – this was before people had cell phones and email – this was because MawDee knew so many people and she opened her home to every single one of them.  This is what made her happy – being around her friends and her family.
I was fortunate to have had such a strong grandmother in my life – she was a good role model for me as a young girl that a woman could be who she was and not be apologetic about it.  MawDee was confident, rarely was she embarrassed (unless it was something Pop did), and you know what – she LIKED herself, and I liked her too.  Over the years, the family would tease her over her loud voice, her gazillion friends, or her 50+ food selection at every holiday.  But she let it roll right off her back, she would roll her eyes and laugh, make a funny face and give me that wink --- letting me know she didn’t care one iota, she was going to do her, and she wasn’t going to change herself to please others.
MawDee was larger than life, and she genuinely loved the life she felt so blessed to have.  Her big personality radiated from every part of her body.  I will miss her voice, her laugh, her beautiful handwriting, and her generous spirit.
I love you MawDee, there will only be one of you in this world and I am lucky to have been your granddaughter.  You passed on the same day as Billy Graham and when I heard this news, I immediately pictured you striking up a conversation with Billy outside those pearly gates as you both waited for your turn. I also know that even though he was Billy Graham, you went right on in there first and knew God would want to talk to you just as much as he would have wanted to talk to Billy.  Because after all, you are MawDee – a one-of-a kind, the original – you knew it, God knew it, and so did we.

Mom's Obituary

Mom's Obituary