A tribute to Irene Mae Lynch Schwartz.
Irene Santa and Lynn Durham wish to honor our mom.

Here you will find links to the Obituary, Guest Book, Funeral Mass Program and the DVD.

For some background on the Obituary we want you to know that each morning John Santa would bring the paper home and open it to the Obits for mom. After reading them they would discuss what was good, what wasn’t and how they each wanted theirs. Mom would be in awe of some wording, sometimes the length, good photos, etc. If she could see hers she’d love it. John did a great job! “Wow,” she’d say, “Two columns AND two photos!”

Irene and I may have driven John Santa a little crazy with our decisions about the funeral Mass. Well, maybe “indecisions” might be a better word. Anyway, it did come together before the day, we chose a verse used for Dad’s brother George’s service, the “kids” used Mrs. Santa’s prayers of the faithful as an example and Beth Ann copied it on great paper and passed it out.

For those who didn’t attend the wake mom had a scarf on? well several. One was on her neck, and two were on the coffin handles, some were in the flowers, on the tables, tied to the chairs and on her family. Her flowers were bright jewel colors and as we planned with the florist she thought the name sounded familiar. We discovered that she had taken the order from Bridgeport Hospital days before to send a floral arrangement to Mom at the nursing home. The woman at the florist said 
she was told it had to be with vibrant colors, something that would make Mom smile. She felt the care of the woman ordering and told us, “It seemed like it was important. The spirit of the woman came through and I worked to make it special even adding extra flowers.” It showed, it was a beautiful arrangement.

And Lesko Funeral Home asked for photos and music choices to make a DVD. That was a healing activity going over and remembering all the good times. We had originally thought to have it ordered one old photo and one more recent one so anyone could watch a few and get a flavor. Kevin Lesko said, “Trust me, they will watch it all.” In most cases that was correct. I even heard someone say they watched it more than once. Anyway, you have the opportunity to view it here if you wish.

Speaking of wishes, Mom would wish for you to remember her well as someone who made you feel better. She would love to see you dressed snazzy wazzy, living in a place that was spiffy diffy, having a life well lived and sharing your joy.