Bea Lyons: An Eulogy

by Jennifer Lyons

Thank you all for being here and sharing in the celebration of my mom’s life. I wanted to take some time today to describe to you who my mom was, who she is, and who she will live on to be - but I recognized I am limited by words, time and the constraints of our own human perception. What I and others share today will only be a tiny glimpse of the magnificence she imparted during her short time here on earth.

My mom was a living angel. Please look around you. The number of people you see is only a fraction of those who have witnessed her love, her kindness, her generosity. She gave of herself frequently, often with her only purpose to bring joy to another’s life.

What was most important to her were the people in her life. The love she had for her life-long partner and husband, my father, was unmatched by any other. She found her greatest sense of satisfaction and fulfillment by being a wife, a mom, a grandmom, a sister, an aunt, a cousin, an acquaintance, a friend.

As a woman, she was creative, patient, reasonable, trustworthy, cheerful, courteous, sincere, courageous, honest, trusting, humble, hopeful, responsible, curious, fun-loving, adventurous, industrious and forgiving.

My mom was a thoughtful, helpful and gracious woman. She was most filled with joy when she could bring someone else joy.

She was exceptionally beautiful woman. Please take time to look at the photos and slideshow, you will see what I mean.

My mom’s love of weaving serves as an appropriate metaphor in examining the beauty of her life. We - us - here together, are all of the woven fibers that represent the tapestry of her life; our lives in many ways are not related, yet we all have a common thread, my mother, Bea.

Let us remember the woman who was responsible for her loving ways that wove our lives together.

I’d like now to just share a few more thoughts: an awareness that has come to me in the past year as a result of watching my mom’s health decline and engaging in some other difficult situations. I have spent most of my life looking for things I didn’t have. But I’ve realized my focus was wrong. Instead of spending the next part of my life looking at what I don’t have, I want to spend the rest of my life looking at what I already have. I am so incredibly grateful for the time I did get to spend with my mom, for all that she has given me, and for all of you who have gotten to share in the magnificence of her life.

I’d like to close with a poem:

Back to Top