Patricia Dignan
When death strikes words often fail us. This book helps honor ones for whom the alphabet seems inadequate.
The first eulogy the author ever heard was for her aunt when she was 12; appalled that the minister knew so little about the deceased he never once mentioned her by name, she became determined that such thoughtlessness and lack of recognition would never happen to anyone she loved in the future. Consequently, she wrote eulogies for her infant son, her mother, grandmother, mother-in-law, father, and various friends and relatives upon their deaths.
In this book, she has made it possible to “mix-and-match” by classifying the entries alphabetically and by occupation or title. Blending humor, scripture, and classic literature, this book provides a full eulogy or seeds for thought so readers can create their own.
Patricia Dignan is a retired school administrator of 46 years, author, wife, mother and grandmother. She is CEO of her own company, the Pygmalion Principal, Incorporated, and is currently an independent contractor specializing in turning around under-performing schools.
Over the years she has been asked to do eulogies for friends and loved ones. Knowing how difficult that is at the time of death, she is offering 24 hour turnaround eulogies by calling 734-483-5758 or contacting her at eulogiestodiefor.com and/or pygmalion@provide.net
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Eulogy for a teacher/friend/storyteller
Her life reminds me of Keebler-Ross’s comments in her book on dying: Think of it not as a life terminated but a live complete. Her life was complete. How many of us will be able to say that we have filled the spaces between the parenthesis on our tombstones with as much living?
Although it was my privilege to be her boss I sometimes think she reversed the roles. She centered her life on the people she loved. Because she enjoyed teaching through storytelling, I thought I’d share a few of her favorites with you.
The first one speaks to friendship. It’s about a Little Prince who lands on earth from another planet and wants to learn the secrets of our universe. The first creature he meets is a fox whom he begs to come play with him. The fox declines saying, “I can’t play with you because I’m not tamed.” The Little Prince says, “What does that mean?” And the fox replies,
“Taming in an act too often neglected. It means to establish ties. To me you are only a little boy who is like a hundred thousand other little boys and I have no need of you. And you have no need of me. To you I am nothing more than an ordinary fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me you’ll be unique in all the world and to you I will be unique. If you tame me, it will be as if the sun came to shine on my life. I shall know the sound of your step, which will be different from all the others. Yours will call me, like music, out of hiding. And look, see the grain fields down yonder? I do not eat bread so wheat is of no use to me. And that is sad. But you have golden hair. Think how wonderful that will be when you have tamed me! The grain, which is also golden, will bring me back thoughts of you when you’re gone. And I shall love to listen to the wind in the wheat…”
Another story she loved was The Velveteen Rabbit. It’s about a stuffed animal that yearns to feel emotion. “What is real?” asks the rabbit one day. “Does it mean having things buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?”
“Real isn’t how you’re made” said the toy horse. “ It’s a thing that happens to you. When someone loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with but really, really loves you, then you become Real”
“Does it hurt?”, asked the Rabbit. “Sometimes” said the horse for he was always truthful, “but when you’re real you don’t mind being hurt”.
“Does it happen all at once like being wound up or bit by bit?” asked the Rabbit
“It doesn’t happen all at once”, said the horse. “You become and that takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t happen to people who have sharp edges. Generally by the time you are real most of your hair has been loved off and you get loose in the joints and very shabby but these things don’t matter at all because once you’re real, you’re beautiful.”
And beautiful she was because so many of us loved her...
