Obituary of Eileen Duddy

Eileen S. (Keohane) Duddy, a lifelong resident of Arlington, passed away at her home, with her family by her side, on Friday morning, September 12, 2008. The wife of James G. Duddy, she was 81 years old. Eileen was born in her family home on Warren Street in Arlington. She was one of six children born to Irish immigrants the late Daniel J. and Ellen Keohane. She grew up and was educated in Arlington. After high school Eileen worked in the Retail Division of S. S. Pierce in Boston as a secretary. After marrying her husband Jim she devoted her life to creating a loving and caring home for her husband and four children. After her children where grown she went on to work at Bay Bank in Arlington, where she worked as a teller for 10 years. Eileen was an avid sports fan and followed all the Boston sports teams. She belonged to several bowling leagues over the years and was an avid bingo player. She always looked forward to her monthly trips to Foxwoods with her brother Joe and sisters Terry & Ann. Eileen cherished her immediate and extended family. She was a caring and supportive mother, a proud “Nana”, a loving wife. She will be lovingly remembered by all who knew her. Eileen was the wife of James “Jim” G. Duddy. She was the loving mother of James Duddy & his wife Gina of Arlington, Maureen Duddy of Arlington, Larry Duddy & his wife Ann of Maynard, and Cathy Duddy of Arlington. She was the sister of Mary Fitzpatrick of Falmouth, Catherine Leahy & her husband William of Arlington, Joseph Keohane & his wife Marilyn of Burlington, Theresa Sullivan of Burlington and Ann Stanton of Arlington. She was the grandmother of Lauren, Ellen, Colleen, Kerrin & Sean Duddy. She was the sister-in-law of John Duddy of Arlington, the late Mary & William Purdy, Francis & Mary Duddy, Leo Fitzpatrick, Edward Sullivan, and John Stanton. She was also survived by many nieces and nephews. Funeral from the Edward V. Sullivan Funeral Home, 43 Winn St., BURLINGTON (exit 34 off Rt. 128, Woburn side) on Monday, Sept. 15 at 8:45 a.m. Followed by a Mass of Christian Burial in St. Agnes Church, Medford St., Arlington at 10 a.m. Relatives and friends are respectfully invited. Visiting hours will be held on Sunday from 2-6 p.m. Interment will be private. Memorials in Eileen’s name may be made to the Arlington Boys & Girls Club, 60 Pond Lane, Arlington, MA 02474 or the Arlington Dollars for Scholars, John J. Stanton Memorial Fund, Stephen Gilligan, Town Treasurer’s Dept., P.O Box 210, Arlington, MA 02476. A Message from Larry We would first like to take this opportunity to thank the doctors and nurses and hospice staff that cared for our mother. With their help, we were able to grant Mom her last wish, which was to come home. Our mother was a truly wonderful woman. She was something different to each of us (wife, mother, nana, aunt, sister and friend) and she touched our lives in different ways. Some people are here not because they knew her personally, but because they know my father or one or more of her children, so she actually touched your lives as well. It is a humbling sight to see so many people gather yesterday and today to celebrate her life. My aunts and uncle told us that as the middle child of six, mom played the role of peacemaker. She never bragged, boasted or complained and was a very patient person. Mom always played by the rules, but she did confess to us that she once skipped a day of high school to go see Frank Sinatra in Boston and she never regretted it. Or mother was never one to interfere, but she was always ready to offer her honest opinion, sometimes whether you wanted it or not. She always thought that my sister Maureen looked better with a perm. She loved her sports, her bowling league, bingo and her monthly Foxwoods trips with her siblings and friends. When we still lived with her, we could tell when she had a good night at bingo, because she would come home and make a high-ball to calm herself down. We all know that our mothers are special, but let me give you a few examples of how she was special to us. Growing up in our house, dinner was always served promptly at 5:30. Mom always served all of the kids first before putting any food on her plate, just in case she didn’t make enough. She made us peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for our school lunches and even occasionally added a special ingredient. She sent us to school with homemade cupcakes once in a while, which we all promptly traded for Ring Dings or Twinkies, because we could always get more cupcakes when we got home. When my brother Jimmy and I had paper routes, my mother had just gotten her driver’s license and she would drive us around to deliver the Sunday papers. The only request that she had was that she be allowed to sleep until the papers were put together and that there was a fresh cup of instant coffee waiting for her when it was time to get up. Like every mother, she was proud of her children and had high expectations of all of us. She encouraged all of us to use those brains that God gave us and go to college. She wanted at least one of us to be an astronaut, because I can’t tell you how many times she told us “someday, pow-right to the moon! Mom looked forward to her daily lunch Cathy, but not necessarily the string of exercises that followed. When the phone rang when I stopped in for a visit, she would immediately say that’s Maureen calling to check in, before even answering the phone. Mom loved playing Kings in the Corner with her grandchildren, but never let them win without earning it, because otherwise they would never learn. She even managed one last game with the grandkids on the day she came home from the hospital. My mother and father were married just about a month shy of 49 years. They had their own special relationship. I am certain that my father realizes just how lucky he was when he asked to dance with one of the Keohane girls so many years ago, and my mother was the one that said yes. In retirement, Dad tried to keep our mother active with trips to Italy and Canada, which she enjoyed, but she always said that she liked being home best. The house on Robbins Road will never feel quite the same without her, but my father says that there is no place else he would rather be. It’s a home full of fond memories for all of us. In the past few days, countless friends and family have asked how our father is doing and how do we think he will fare without her. This also came up in conversations with my mother recently when I asked her for advice about this very subject. In her typical way, she offered only this, “Good luck to you kid”. We will all miss the Sunday roast beef or smoked shoulder dinners. The dinette table got a little crowded with three generations, but she was glad to have everyone together. As proud as a mother always is of her children, she was even more proud of her grandchildren. She enjoyed watching them grow and develop their own interests, even though she thought we held them too much when they were babies. The support that we as a family have received in the past months has been overwhelming. Friends and family have been there for us and for that, no words of thanks seem adequate. Thank you Theresa, for helping Mom with her new hairstyle after her treatments. Thank you to Kevin, Janet and Aunt Terry for making these past few days less painful and a little more bearable. Mom also appreciated the frequent visits from her brother and sisters and we all enjoyed hearing the stories of their childhood days on Warren Street. We wish that we could have had more time with our mother, but we all know that she is in a better place now. As Aunt Mary said late last week when Mom was gravely ill, the only reason she was still here was because there was a line to get in to heaven and she had to wait her turn. And as she often said, “I’ve waited this long, what’s a few more minutes? And “what are you going to do?” God bless you Mom.