Mary C. Pierce

Greece: August 7, 2012, at the age of 87 after a short illness. Mary is predeceased in 2007 by her beloved husband, Francis H. Pierce; her parents, Cornelius and Mary McCarthy; her brothers Eugene, Ernest, Quentin, Donald, Norman; her sisters Lucy (Briggs), Helen (Sekel), Eileen. She is survived by her sons Gregory (Kathy), Gerard (Priscilla), Francis (Linda), Peter (Pat), Joseph, Michael (Emily); her daughters Mary Jo (Mark) Rzadca, Susan (John) Tando; her grandsons Cory (Mell), Ben (Rachel), Matt (Lindsay), Jason (Tara), Tony, Michael Rizzo, Nate, Zack, Daniel Rizzo, Noah; her granddaughters Maggie, Joanna (Mike) Hahn, Elaine (Dave) Eggert, Amanda (Ryan) Grace, Abby, Hilary, Grace, Madeleine, Alexis; her great-grandchildren Kayla, Kayla, Natalie, William, Asher, Elliana; her youngest sister, Florence (Gilligan), and her sisters-in-law Adelaide, Bea, Shirley, Lorraine. Mary and her husband, Fran, were founding members of Holy Name of Jesus Parish, team leaders in the Cursillo movement, and board members of the Bishop Fulton Sheen Housing Corporation. They ran the Logos Christian Bookstore, worked together at John Geisler Realty, and were partners in Tellier’s Food Shop. Friends may call, Sunday, August 12th, on her 88th Birthday, from 1-5 P.M. at Vay-Schleich Meeson Funeral Home, 1075 Long Pond Road, Greece Chapel. Her Funeral Mass will be held, Monday, August 13th, 10:30 A.M. at Holy Name of Jesus Church, 15 St. Martin’s Way. Burial will be private in Mt. Olivet Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorials can be made to Holy Name of Jesus Church, School of the Holy Childhood, or Journey Home. *****The Wind Beneath Our Wings A Remembrance of Mary Cornelia (McCarthy) Pierce On behalf of my brothers and sisters, Gerry, Fran, Pete, Joe, Mike, Mary Jo, and our spouses and children and grandchildren, and our close friends, I thank all of you who came today to join us in honoring Mom and celebrating her life. She would have been 88 years old yesterday. If you can, please join us for some coffee and cake after Mass, which is put on by some of the wonderful parishioners of St. John of Rochester and Holy Name of Jesus parishes. We know that many of you’€like us’€have dreaded the day we have to say God-speed to our mother, Mary Cornelia McCarthy Pierce. As one of her only surviving sisters-in-law said when we told her the news, ‘I never knew anyone who did not love Mary.’ As she did with most things in her life, Mary tried to make her passing as easy as possible’¦for the rest of us. A month or so ago, we all got together for Mary Jo’s daughter Amanda’s wedding. Mom was in her glory, surrounded by her family, celebrating a joyous family event, dancing with each of her six sons, talking with each of her children and grand-children, meeting her two newest great-grandchildren, Asher and Elliana. There are some fabulous photos of Mom from that wedding, smiling that beautiful Irish smile of hers, looking the picture of health for a woman 87 years old. Those were among the last photos we took of her. That’s how she wanted to be remembered: surrounded by her family and enjoying life to the fullest. Almost immediately after the wedding, however, Mom started complaining about some pain in her back and ribs. We just assumed that one of us had just hugged her too much, but when we took her in to the doctor, he discovered that she had advanced bone cancer. That’s when Mom began to deteriorate rapidly and it became obvious that she was going to die. All of us had the same prayer: God, please don’t let Mom suffer too long and please give us enough time to say goodbye. As with most things regarding Mary Pierce, God granted both of those prayers and she died’€just as she always wanted’€in her bed in the family room at our sister Sue’s home, surrounded by so much love that it was palpable. She died less than a week after she arrived home. She did not suffer much pain, and all of us had the opportunity to say goodbye and tell her how much we loved her. Prayers answered? Check! (Mom left so many prayers and prayer cards and rosaries that even after we had all had our fill, there were still twelve baskets left over, so if any of you would like a second-hand relic of St. Mary of Rochester, they will be available for the taking at the reception.) Mom was the wind beneath all of our wings, including those of her beloved husband, Fran, who died five years ago. Dad had this theological insight: If there is no time in eternity, both he and Mom would arrive at heaven at exactly the same moment. So I have this delicious vision of Dad arriving at heaven’s door early last Tuesday morning and Mom opens it and says, ‘What took you so long, Fran?’ Saint Ignatius Loyola used to teach his followers to be ‘men and women for others.’ Mom could have written the book on that spirituality! She had eight of her own children, nineteen grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren, with one more (that we know of) on the way, and sons and daughters in-law in two generations that she loved as much as her own children. She was the heart and soul of our family, delighted to see each one of us, to share our joys and our sorrows. Even those of us who weren’t too sure of our own religious beliefs had no problem asking Mom to pray for us for things both great and small. And even if we weren’t smart enough to know we needed her prayers, she was. I did the math the other day and I figure that she said the Rosary at least 25,000 times in her lifetime. And when Mom promised to pray for you, it wasn’t some vague intention. She had a list! Don’t believe me? Here’s the list. And you are probably on it! But it wasn’t just her nuclear family that Mom was the heart and soul of. It was the extended McCarthy/Ritchlin/Lynch clan, the extended Pierce/Boudrez clan, the high school sorority that she founded when the girls who were ‘going to college’ wouldn’t invite her and her friends to join their clubs. That group of five women stayed together for over sixty years, so take that Phi Beta Kappa! Mom was the very last of the members of the sorority and their husbands to die. She was also the heart and soul of Duxbury Road and Augustine Street and Clardale Drive and Alderwood Lane and another 10-12 streets’€almost all of them within five miles of here’€that Fran and Mary lived on since their marriage in 1945. She and Dad were founding members of Holy Name of Jesus Parish and ran the Human Development Task Force for years. When the founding pastor, Father Reddington, celebrated his fiftieth anniversary as a priest, Mom hired some guy who looked just like Pope John Paul II to dress in a white cassock and beanie and had him show up unannounced at the party. Fr. Reddington almost had a heart attack on the spot, and all the women of the parish took the opportunity to dance with ‘the pope.’ Don’t believe me? Here’s the white cap and cape and a picture of Dad with the Pope. We are donating these in Mom’s name to Holy Name, just in case Fr. John or Fr. Ted ever get the call to Rome! Mom was the heart and soul of this parish’s ministry to the inner city, collecting food and clothing and money and furniture for ‘Father Tony’ and ‘Sister Pat.’ She and Dad fostered kids from St. Joseph’s home, welcomed foreign students into her home’€including a classmate of mine, Anselmo Ludwig from Brazil, who was basically an undocumented immigrant and still calls her ‘Mom’€and eventually she and Dad adopted our beautiful sister Sue. It was Sue and her husband John who took Mom into their home for hospice care the last week of her life. All of us want to thank them publicly for that. It was their daughter, Alexis, who sang Mom’s favorite hymn, Ave Maria, so beautifully just now as her grandchildren and great-grandchildren put flowers before the statue of her old friend and ally, Mary, the mother of Jesus. Of course, when Mom and Dad made Cursillo, Mom became the heart and soul of that movement as well. And then at age 55, she fulfilled her life’s dream to own and run a Christian bookstore when she and Dad opened Logos on Ridge Road in the late 1970s. She worked there for many years with Dad and continued after Dad had retired and our brother Michael took over the store, and’€guess what?’€Mom became the heart and soul of the community of employees and customers who formed around the bookstore as well. For Mom there were always charities and causes that needed to be supported, wars that needed to be protested, books that needed to be read, Democrats who needed to be voted for. (Although she did vote for Eisenhower twice, but I think that was because Adlai Stevenson had gotten a divorce!) And Mom loved her church’€oh, my, did she love her church. There were always priests and nuns and laypeople around the house who needed to be encouraged and fed and even straightened out once and a while. She loved Vatican II and it changed her life, but she never lost her deep sense of piety and morality and the certainty that she and *Dad were going to be together in heaven. And now they are. Fran Pierce was the love of Mom’s life, and he of hers. They were married 67 years ago last Friday, and the last seven years of his life, Mom cared for Dad 24/7. They had the perfect marriage: Dad thought he got his way on everything’¦and Mom eventually got her way on all the important things! For example, when Mom decided they should open the Logos bookstore, Dad was dead set against it: They were too old; it was too risky; he didn’t want the responsibility. Mom simply started one of her 54-day Rosary Novenas to Our Lady, and Dad was toast by day 27, and he actually thought the whole thing was his idea! But that’s how Mom was. She didn’t need the spotlight. She didn’t need to get the recognition or the glory. She was content to be the wind beneath all of our wings. So our beautiful sister Mary Jo came up with the idea of printing the words to the song made famous by Bette Midler in your Mass booklet, We’re not going to ask you to sing it, mostly because none of us would be able to get through it without crying. But Mary Jo is going to play it on the piano and, as you listen to the music, please read the words and see how much they fit our mom, Mary Pierce. (Written by Greg Pierce, eldest son of Fran and Mary Pierce, with the support of his brothers and sisters Gerry Pierce, Fran Pierce, Peter Pierce, Joe Pierce, Mike Pierce, Mary Jo Rzadca, and Sue Tando.)