My mother passed away on Thursday, August 29. You can get details on the funeral coming up Monday, Sept. 16. She'd just turned 101 on August 24, and sometimes it's still hard to believe she's gone. Here's a eulogy to her life, which I got her to proofread in an earlier version years ago; and which my sister Ellen and her husband Dennis added to last year for the 100th birthday party.
Margaret Ellen Foley was born on Saturday, August 24, 1918, in Gary, Indiana. A child of Irish
immigrants, Margaret (best known as Peg), was the second of five children. She was born after her sister, Marie, and before her brothers Timothy, Thomas, and Edmund.
At the time of Peg’s birth, her parents, Thomas Foley and Helen O’Neil, were living in Gary, Indiana where her father worked for Bethlehem Steel. Her mother moved back to Ireland in 1920 while her father stayed and worked in the U.S. as a labor organizer. Helen returned and met up with her husband Tom in South San Francisco, California, with their first three children, in 1925.
Both of Peg’s parents were from Ireland: her Mother from County Kerry, her father from County Cork. They met in Boston. They were married in Cambridge, Massachusetts on April 21, 1914.
The oldest child, Mary Elizabeth (known as Marie), was born in 1916 in Chicago. Tim was born in 1920 in County Kerry, Ireland. Tom was born in 1929 in Redondo Beach, California; and Ed was born in 1930 in Los Angeles.
Peg’s childhood was filled with moving to new homes and schools as her father’s job with Bethlehem Steel took them to different cities every couple of years. Those California towns included South San Francisco, Redondo Beach, Lynwood, Compton, and Pasadena. Peg and her siblings spent the longest period in Compton, where they developed several friendships while attending high school and junior college.
Peg graduated from an accelerated program that developed career skills at Woodbury College in Los Angeles. She would use her education for various jobs, including advertising duties at the Los Angeles Herald, a secretary at Consolidated Shipyard on Terminal Island, California, and as a newspaper reporter for the Greenville News in Greenville, South Carolina.
She met her husband, Armand LeSage, while working at Consolidated Shipyard in the early days of World War II. Her desk faced Armand’s, who worked as a draftsman on ship-building projects. Armand asked Peg out on dates a few time before she said yes. Being three years older than him, Peg thought at first that he was kidding. He wasn’t, and they went on their first date to The Pike amusement park in Long Beach.
They were married on February 29, 1944, at Hammer Field, the Army Air Force base in Fresno, California. Armand left within hours for training prior to being sent to England to serve during WWII. Most of his service was spent in Sardinia and Corsica as a mechanic maintaining bombers that targeted Germany.
During their first year of marriage while Armand was overseas, Peg worked full time and lived with Armand’s mother, Johanna, and his brother Bill and sister Genette, in Long Beach. When Armand returned to the states, he was sent to the Greenville Army Air Base in South Carolina to train for duty in the South Pacific. Peg joined him in Greenville and found employment as a journalist.
They moved back to Long Beach, where Armand went to Long Beach City College to take engineering courses prior to transferring to a university. Peg worked until the birth of their first child, Paul, in November 1947. By that time, Armand had changed his plans from a career in engineering to working as a fireman for the Los Angeles Fire Department.
Their daughter Ellen would be born in November 1950. The family moved to Gardena shortly before Ellen was born and Paul was two and a half. The kids went to St. Anthony of Padua grammar school, and the family became active in the parish.
Her son Jon was born weeks before her 45th birthday in 1963. She and Armand were surprised to find out they’d be having another child as Paul and Ellen were close to turning 16 and 13
Peg and her family were able to enjoy vacations over the years, many times a year, in their truck and trailer. Favorite spots included Ensenada, Mexico; Pismo Beach, California; the Colorado River; and road trips to national parks in the Western U.S. and Canada. Years later, she was able to take international trips with friends to the Fiji Islands and Australia, and several European countries that included a visit to the historic Catholic parish, Medjugorje, in Herzegovina.
Peg became very active in service commitments to the parish, which included serving as President of the School Council. Years later, she would become active at Long Beach Community Hospital as a greeter in the emergency room and other duties. When she was 90, she was awarded Volunteer of the Year by the hospital for her extensive service.
Peg was blessed to have close relationships with family members on both sides of the family over the years. She stayed close to several friends, including Marianne Huttinger, Adabelle Burnette, Peggy and Sylvan (Sut) Sutter, Dottie Brajnakov, Betty Pierce, Lucy Sullivan, Bill and Wintress Berry, Bill and Betty Dowell, and Pat and Joe Kenny.
She has four grandchildren: Robyn and Matthew, whose parents are Paul and Sharon LeSage; and Anne and Brian, whose parents are Dennis and Ellen Guayante. She also has six great grand kids.
For the past several years, she lived at Brookdale Valley View assisted living in Garden Grove. She spent her time doing crossword puzzles, reading mystery novels, doing crafts, watching movies, and playing bingo and jango with friends. She also got to enjoy visits from friends and family.
She passed away on Thursday, August 29, 2019. That was five days after she celebrated her 101st birthday.
So that’s her history, but who was Peg LeSage?
She was, from the beginning, a person who cherished family and friends, loved to host gatherings of the same (which were seldom smaller than 15 or 20), and enjoyed travel anywhere. She liked to be in the middle of things surrounded by bustle and knowing everything that was going on.
She never met a stranger. Very early in any conversation with someone she hadn’t met before, and this could be someone she was standing next to on the street, a store clerk, or a police officer, she would ask where they were from and what high school they attended. With her vast catalogue of family and friends, she rarely failed to find common ground.
She had several dishes she did well, especially for large groups. But when it was just her and us kids, her cooking was imaginative and inventive. Being a child of the depression, she rarely threw anything, especially food, away. Her renditions of leftovers and stale chips into soups and casseroles are spoken of to this day. Her refrigerators, with their anonymous and unknowable contents, were ever the source of adventure (as in “I dare you to reach into the back of that drawer”).
She was the heart of the family. She will be missed very much.
Margaret Ellen Foley was born on Saturday, August 24, 1918, in Gary, Indiana. A child of Irish
immigrants, Margaret (best known as Peg), was the second of five children. She was born after her sister, Marie, and before her brothers Timothy, Thomas, and Edmund.
Both of Peg’s parents were from Ireland: her Mother from County Kerry, her father from County Cork. They met in Boston. They were married in Cambridge, Massachusetts on April 21, 1914.
The oldest child, Mary Elizabeth (known as Marie), was born in 1916 in Chicago. Tim was born in 1920 in County Kerry, Ireland. Tom was born in 1929 in Redondo Beach, California; and Ed was born in 1930 in Los Angeles.
Peg’s childhood was filled with moving to new homes and schools as her father’s job with Bethlehem Steel took them to different cities every couple of years. Those California towns included South San Francisco, Redondo Beach, Lynwood, Compton, and Pasadena. Peg and her siblings spent the longest period in Compton, where they developed several friendships while attending high school and junior college.
Peg graduated from an accelerated program that developed career skills at Woodbury College in Los Angeles. She would use her education for various jobs, including advertising duties at the Los Angeles Herald, a secretary at Consolidated Shipyard on Terminal Island, California, and as a newspaper reporter for the Greenville News in Greenville, South Carolina.
She met her husband, Armand LeSage, while working at Consolidated Shipyard in the early days of World War II. Her desk faced Armand’s, who worked as a draftsman on ship-building projects. Armand asked Peg out on dates a few time before she said yes. Being three years older than him, Peg thought at first that he was kidding. He wasn’t, and they went on their first date to The Pike amusement park in Long Beach.
They were married on February 29, 1944, at Hammer Field, the Army Air Force base in Fresno, California. Armand left within hours for training prior to being sent to England to serve during WWII. Most of his service was spent in Sardinia and Corsica as a mechanic maintaining bombers that targeted Germany.
During their first year of marriage while Armand was overseas, Peg worked full time and lived with Armand’s mother, Johanna, and his brother Bill and sister Genette, in Long Beach. When Armand returned to the states, he was sent to the Greenville Army Air Base in South Carolina to train for duty in the South Pacific. Peg joined him in Greenville and found employment as a journalist.
They moved back to Long Beach, where Armand went to Long Beach City College to take engineering courses prior to transferring to a university. Peg worked until the birth of their first child, Paul, in November 1947. By that time, Armand had changed his plans from a career in engineering to working as a fireman for the Los Angeles Fire Department.
Their daughter Ellen would be born in November 1950. The family moved to Gardena shortly before Ellen was born and Paul was two and a half. The kids went to St. Anthony of Padua grammar school, and the family became active in the parish.
Her son Jon was born weeks before her 45th birthday in 1963. She and Armand were surprised to find out they’d be having another child as Paul and Ellen were close to turning 16 and 13
Peg and her family were able to enjoy vacations over the years, many times a year, in their truck and trailer. Favorite spots included Ensenada, Mexico; Pismo Beach, California; the Colorado River; and road trips to national parks in the Western U.S. and Canada. Years later, she was able to take international trips with friends to the Fiji Islands and Australia, and several European countries that included a visit to the historic Catholic parish, Medjugorje, in Herzegovina.
Peg became very active in service commitments to the parish, which included serving as President of the School Council. Years later, she would become active at Long Beach Community Hospital as a greeter in the emergency room and other duties. When she was 90, she was awarded Volunteer of the Year by the hospital for her extensive service.
Peg was blessed to have close relationships with family members on both sides of the family over the years. She stayed close to several friends, including Marianne Huttinger, Adabelle Burnette, Peggy and Sylvan (Sut) Sutter, Dottie Brajnakov, Betty Pierce, Lucy Sullivan, Bill and Wintress Berry, Bill and Betty Dowell, and Pat and Joe Kenny.
She has four grandchildren: Robyn and Matthew, whose parents are Paul and Sharon LeSage; and Anne and Brian, whose parents are Dennis and Ellen Guayante. She also has six great grand kids.
For the past several years, she lived at Brookdale Valley View assisted living in Garden Grove. She spent her time doing crossword puzzles, reading mystery novels, doing crafts, watching movies, and playing bingo and jango with friends. She also got to enjoy visits from friends and family.
She passed away on Thursday, August 29, 2019. That was five days after she celebrated her 101st birthday.
So that’s her history, but who was Peg LeSage?
She was, from the beginning, a person who cherished family and friends, loved to host gatherings of the same (which were seldom smaller than 15 or 20), and enjoyed travel anywhere. She liked to be in the middle of things surrounded by bustle and knowing everything that was going on.
She never met a stranger. Very early in any conversation with someone she hadn’t met before, and this could be someone she was standing next to on the street, a store clerk, or a police officer, she would ask where they were from and what high school they attended. With her vast catalogue of family and friends, she rarely failed to find common ground.
She had several dishes she did well, especially for large groups. But when it was just her and us kids, her cooking was imaginative and inventive. Being a child of the depression, she rarely threw anything, especially food, away. Her renditions of leftovers and stale chips into soups and casseroles are spoken of to this day. Her refrigerators, with their anonymous and unknowable contents, were ever the source of adventure (as in “I dare you to reach into the back of that drawer”).
She was the heart of the family. She will be missed very much.
What a wonderful eulogy for your mother, Jon! Beautiful. No matter how old you and your mother are, it's really difficult when they pass.
ReplyDeleteI miss my mother every day. Kindest regards and deepest sympathy, Meg Morrow
Beautiful eulogy. I remember her friendly "momness" when we hung out with Jon in high school. I love her heart - the volunteer work - great role model!
ReplyDelete