Obituary of Eileen Davy

Eileen A. (Johnson) Davy will be remembered for leaving a legacy of love, faith, and family. Eileen passed away at the Crestwood Harborside Healthcare facility in Milford, NH surrounded by family on Tuesday morning, February 6, 2007. She was 87 years old. She was born in Chelsea, Massachusetts, the daughter of the late Francis and Alice Johnson. Her family moved to Montreal, Canada when she was a child, where she was raised and educated. She met her husband Norman in Montreal; they were married and moved back to the United States in 1948. They settled in Burlington, where they raised their 4 children. Eileen worked at the State Hospital in Waltham until she retired at the age of 65. She worked as a Nurse’s Aid and Administrative Assistant in the Social Services Department of the hospital. She was not ready to retire so she went to work as a private Home Health Aid. She worked up until the age of 80. In many instances, her patients were much younger than herself. It gave her great joy extending herself to those in need. Eileen was very active in both St. Margaret’s and St. Malachy’s Churches in Burlington. She was a CCD teacher and a member of the Catholic Daughters at St. Margaret’s Church. When St. Malachy’s Church was built closer to her home, she became a faithful parishioner. She enjoyed being part of the church community. Eileen’s greatest legacy is her family. She was a devoted wife, mother, grandmother, and great grandmother. She enjoyed visiting family and friends and wanted to be a part in all her families’ lives. She took great joy in the accomplishments of all her family. She loved being surrounded by her family and in her final days it gave her great comfort to have them at her bedside. Eileen is the beloved wife of the late Norman Davy. She is the beloved mother of Norman “Jim” Davy of Nashua, NH, Glen Davy of Nashua, NH, Donna & her husband James Hagen of Temple, NH, and Brian Davy & his wife Lorri of Tyngsborough. She is the mother-in-law of the late Terry Davy. She is the sister of Lawrence Johnson of Needham, Doris Kierstead of Worcester, Barry Newcombe of Windham, NH and the late Earl Johnson. She is the proud grandmother of Lori-Ann Johnson of Nashua, NH, Matthew & Jimmy Davy of Nashua, NH, Scott & Ryan Hagen of Keene, NH, Kelly Houston of Milford, NH, and Connor & Jordan Davy of Tyngsborough. She is also survived by 11 great grandchildren. A Memorial Mass will be held at the St. Malachy’s Church, 99 Bedford St., Burlington, on Saturday, January 10 at 9 a.m. A Memorial Wake will be held at the Edward V. Sullivan Funeral Home, 43 Winn St., BURLINGTON (Exit 34 off Rt. 128, Woburn side) on Friday from 4-8 p.m. Interment in Chestnut Hill Cemetery, Burlington. Memorials in Eileen’s name may be made to the St. Malachy’s Church Memorial Fund, 99 Bedford St., Burlington, MA 01803. Remembering Mom Whether you knew her as Mom, Gigi, Eileen, Mrs. Davy, or even as her nickname from Dewey of 'Miss America' there is no denying that our mother was a beautiful lady of style and grace who was most well known for her desire to help others. It is important that we reflect back over her entire life and put the difficult final months in perspective as a small part of a long and loving life with many happy memories. BR> The center of mom's life was her family with her love and desire to be part of our lives and help in whatever way was needed. She didn’t like the salutation of in-law. She told us that she loved her mother-in-law very much and didn’t like the negative reputation that in-law brought. To her, Jim was another son, Terry and Lorri were additional daughters. You always knew that she was just a phone call away. She put her own needs last. Mom was very non-judgmental and stood by her family in any situation, even when we made mistakes, big or small. She truly expressed unconditional love to us all. She never raised her voice. When dad’s health declined in his final years, she took good care of him right up to the end of his life. She was seventy and it was taking a toll on her own health physically and emotionally. After he passed away, she grew stronger and was able to revive her active lifestyle. Mom never flew in an airplane until her sixties. She knew that she needed to conquer that fear to see her brother Earl in California and her cousin Shirley in Florida. Over the years, she took many visits to see them, though she never grew comfortable with flying. Those trips brought her great pleasure. She hated the cold weather (a trait that she passed on to us) and would schedule these “breaks” from the winter. Her character was greatly influenced by her youth and the tragic gas explosion she witnessed that claimed her father's life when she was only ten. As the oldest child in the family, she grew to help her mother look after her siblings; Earl, Larry, Doris and Barry. At the nursing home, she would often take out a picture of herself with her brothers and sister and talk of those times. She also had a picture hanging over her bed of herself on her father's shoulders. She felt the impact of that loss over her entire life. When we were growing up, she would share stories of the difficulties they faced with food shortages and more, not looking for pity, but rather to help us as children to appreciate what we had. She spoke of the unheated bedrooms and putting bricks warmed by the fireplace in the bed to keep her feet warm. She kept a beautiful home. You couldn't find an unclaimed place on any wall or side table, but it wasn't cluttered or messy, it was full of decorations and memorabilia that reflected her and her desire to be surrounded by things that she enjoyed. How she kept the house so clean with all that stuff and kept an active family life is still a mystery. Spring and fall cleanings were major events every year. Mom loved to have people come over for a cup of coffee or tea and converse for hours. It was one of her favorite past-times. Often when we called in the late afternoon, she would be sharing a cup of coffee with my brother Jimmy chatting with her about daily happenings. When Donna got married and moved out, mom decided to sacrifice a bedroom to enlarge the kitchen to make it bigger for family gatherings which she loved to host. You always knew that you were welcomed back at any time. Other projects included expanding space for her always increasing wardrobe. We used to tease her and tell her that her shoe collection would make Imelda Marcos jealous. (Donna) Mom always told me she was so proud of who I became not having the opportunity to go directly to college from High School, but continuing my education later on in life and managing a household and family. We had our differences as mother and daughters often do. I am a pretty black and white person and mom as everyone knows saw the world through rose colored glasses. However, it was those same attributes of mine that made her so proud. She bought me my first horse when I was in my thirties. She was able to fulfill my childhood passion for the love of horses, even though I knew she would rather have me decorating my home than be out shoveling in the barn. She loved that horse as much as I did and fed her carrots on every visit to New Hampshire. Her compassion and love for all kinds was with her till the end as my most lasting memory is her sharing her baked potato with that little white dog of mine that she so loved to see when I would visit.” Mom's spirituality was a very important part of her life. She spent a great deal of time in this very church and one of her most proud moments was the Sunday mass that her beloved Terry surprised her by going up to communion after quietly converting to Catholicism. Our family has been blessed to worship and share many happy moments both here and at St. Margaret’s with lot‘s of weddings, baptisms, and other sacramental events. She didn’t just express her love of God on Sunday morning, she lived it in her daily actions. At the nursing home, the Sunday religious service was non-denominational. She would have preferred to celebrate with a catholic mass, but she went often and said that she was happy to celebrate God. Glen remembers how selfless mom was. He wrote, &quote;I can tell you one thing, if I just happened to mention something as simple as my shoelaces were going to break soon. Next time she went shopping she would pick up a pair of laces without me even asking....or I'd come home from work and find a candy bar on my bed. She did a LOT of things like that.&quote; He recalls that she liked to give $5 or $10 to many different charities because she wanted to help as many as she could. Growing up, the summer time always meant a trip to Canada to visit with Dad’s family. We have great memories of trips to Montreal, Ottawa, and the lake at St. Gabriel de Brandon. The visits included paddle boats on the lake and Mom's favorite activity, gathering together for conversation. Mom made sure that our friends were always welcome in her home. She encouraged us to bring them over and hang out. Who can forget the “Cave” in the basement of Morrison Road, a room made of crumpled paper bags and purple lights and florescent artwork? She knew that when we were close to home that we were safe and that was important to her. (Brian) My mother's biggest gift to me is the support and encouragement that she gave to me to get a good education. From as long as I can remember she was telling me how smart I was and that I needed to attend college. I was very happy to get a good education and make her proud. She was seventy five years old when I completed my MBA and she came in to Boston with us for the commencement ceremony. She always took an interest in my career. Nearly every conversation that we had included questions on how my job was going. If Mom had a fault it was that she always put others before herself. In any situation that we would ask her how she felt, her answers always focused on how others felt and her concern. Not a bad fault to have. In spite of encouragement from us to think about herself first sometimes, it was inevitable that she would revert to caring about others first. While going through Mom’s papers I came across a work performance evaluation from her Office Manager time at Met State Hospital which was recommending a promotion. It was extremely complimentary and I want to share a few excerpts: “...I have always found Mrs. Davy to be a loyal and faithful secretary who possesses excellent public relations skills.” “Mrs. Davy is particularly dependable and conscientious about attendance and responding to crises.” “Mrs. Davy’s extensive experience with patients on the wards is reflected in her positive manner of relating to patients, especially patients who are acutely agitated and/or depressed.” And lastly, the quote that brought a smile to my face, “Since Mrs. Davy has assumed responsibility for the unit office, the area is consistently neat, clean, organized, and seasonally decorated. She also dresses in a tasteful and appropriate manner which conveys an impression which I believe is important.” Putting Mom in the nursing home was a difficult decision, reluctantly made when she cut herself badly during a fall during the night and could have bled to death if not for Matthew hearing her. Frequent visits helped us to grow more comfortable though it was still difficult to accept, of course. (Brian) I am so grateful to my sister Donna and my niece Kelly for their dedication and commitment to visiting Mom at the nursing home multiple times per week. Conversations with the nursing staff helped us to realize how much they grew to love Mom. We were told that she always wanted to do as told and responded to requests with kind words and thanks. We took pleasure in hearing that she retained her sense of humor, kindness and compassion, even as she became more confused. Mom's love of family, caring for others and wonderful sense of humor are instilled in Jimmy, Glen, Donna and myself as we have become adults, parents and in some cases grandparents. Our children; Young Jimmy, Lori-Ann, Scott, Kelly, Mathew, Ryan, Connor and Jordan have been blessed to have such wonderful memories to cherish of times with their GiGi. Luckily, Mom was blessed to have treasured moments with her 11 great grandchildren; Alanah, Kaylah, Chelsea, Miles, Marissa, Cameron, Adrien, Alyssa, Calie, Chloe, and Mason. It is so hard to believe that she has passed away. She was such a powerful presence that it just seemed like she would live forever. It is difficult to say goodbye but we take comfort in the knowledge of her influence upon us and her spiritual presence. May she rest in peace. Good-bye Mom with all our love, until we meet again.