Tom McCabes Genealogy 2022

Readings from the Funeral Mass of Susan Gaddis McCabe. Catholic Student Center, San Marcos, Tx

First Reading: Eccliastics 3:1-11 Read by Dennis McCabe Second Reading : First letter of John 3:1-2 Read by Diann McCabe Gospel: John 14:1-6

The following were read by Adam Rodriguez, son of Ann McCabe Rodriguez.

The first is a excerpt of a blog entry by Cynthia Kopkowski McCabe, Susie's daughter-in-law.

  Susie's influence on all who loved her - a group limited to everyone who met her - cannot be overstated.                 As a young woman, she had the looks and sparkle of a Texas debutante but went on to live a life of substance and intellectual curiosity that proved she was more than an exceedingly pretty face.                 If you wanted to know the best way to spend an afternoon in London or Dublin, she was the one who would point you to the eclectic, off-the-beaten-path museum that would become your favorite memory of the trip.                 She'd demonstrate the most effective way to iron a shirt while also describing a Puccini opera.                 She taught volumes about spirituality by patiently coaxing the sound from a Tibetan singing bowl.                 For her grandchildren, Grandma Susie will live in stories told around the table and in old film footage in which the beautiful, smiling blond outshines all every time she's in frame.                 She will live in the memories of nature walks, of fantastic bedtime stories, of arms rocking them to sleep while the softest lullaby voice sings "Bah, Bah Black Sheep."         And a poem from Diann McCabe, Susie's sister-in-law, written for the occasion:

For Susie

This morning I could feel The sun making itself known, Affirmed by the songs the birds began to sing, These birds she loved—mockingbirds she’d sing to with, “Hey, Mr. Mockingbird.”   And I remember—

Lying side by side on sleeping bags on our front porch after a Thanksgiving feast, everything clean and returned to its place, laughing in the beautiful light, surrounded by butterflies that came that year. Teaching an impromptu English class in Istanbul to a crowded room full of Iraqi Christian refugees. The map of Texas she had drawn on the board.  Marking the Stations of the Cross with her and Janette Young—outside in a green space, carrying the cross with others, pausing for readings and prayers. And again with Janette, the Stations of the Cross service at St Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City.   Meeting her at 5 a.m. outside the Catholic Student Center to put the turkey on for another McCabe Thanksgiving—the time the priest forgot to unlock the door and the bark pieces we threw at Father Bill’s window landed too softly to wake him. Going with her and Tommy and Terry to the Dell Jewish Community Center in Austin to hear Nancy Kenesthen, age 93, give a talk on being a court reporter for the Nuremberg Trials. In Ireland, raising a toast with her, Tommy, Terry, Joe, and Lacey—feeling as though we were in heaven. Reading a short story to her during one of her last treatments in December—feeling as though I was in heaven, feeling so loved.   She understood that if life goes into something, it is good.  She loved the life that goes into things—whether literature, films, crochet, a bridge game, the bloom of a carefully tended rose, a corner angle in building a house, an argument about how to live and how to love, the beautifully sewn pajamas she made for her grandchildren, the crust of a fresh baked pie.

And I remember sitting at her side with Peggy last Saturday late afternoon, the light shining on Susie’s face, and we both noticed how bathed in beauty she was as the sun began to set.  

Adam related two stories about Susie. How she had been one of his mother's caretakers on her deathbed - how it taught him that family comes first - when the family needs you, you come. The second story he related was when he and Susie were in line at the grocery store and Susie paid for the groceries for a stranger who had forgotten her wallet. Adam said the random act of kindness affected him and show how our actions can have an impact in totally unforeseen ways.

Jan 28, 2011 San Marcos,Tx