Goodbye Nana Martin

My grandmother, a.k.a. Nana Martin, passed away last week before her 91st birthday. It’s a rough week and hopefully everyone else is starting to feel little bit better. My sister and I both said some words at her funeral and my mother had some requests for me to post what I said.  Keep reading for the entire eulogy.

I want to take this opportunity to share some of the things that I will remember about Nana Martin.

First and foremost Nana was Italian.  In our family, because of Nana, we defined Italian as someone who liked to have friends and family around all the time and providing those friends and family with enough food to feed them for a lifetime, even if they were just over for dinner. Although Nana left Pelham and her castle on the hill a few years ago, it just recently set in just how much I’m going to miss our family get-togethers. For some reason, as long as she was with us there was always the possibility of one more family party.  In addition to seeing family and friends at her famous parties, I’m also going to miss Nana’s amazing meatballs! I can still remember the smile on her face when she asked me in front of my mother whose meatballs I liked better. Although it was a tough position to be put in, I had to say Nana’s were better. She smiled as if there wasn’t any doubt.

I’m also going to remember Nana as someone who absolutely loved movies. I used to pick her up on numerous occasions for a trip to Chunky’s to watch the latest movie. My friends in college were always surprised when they asked me what I was doing on break and I told them that I was going to see a movie with my grandmother. Not every teenager has a grandmother that has a movie collection as good or better than their own, but I did. It’s even more rare to have a grandmother that can discuss the merits of why Sean Connery was the best Bond and why Pierce Brosnan is so much better than “that new guy”.

I’m also never going to forget how big a patriots fan that Nana was. I could always count on Nana to have her lucky Tom Brady shirt on for the big game.  During college and up until Helena came along, Nana would call me at the end of every game win or lose (but usually win) just to make sure that I enjoyed the game and talk about the Pats.

As we all know, Nana loved her jewelry. It may surprise you that one of her pieces was one I bought her in Paris at Notre Dame Cathedral. It became one of her favorite pieces and could always be found on her chain right next to Grandpa’s wedding ring.

What I think all of these memories have in common is that Nana loved her family, Whether it was a party, a movie, or just a phone call after a football game she was always thinking of us, and I will do the same now that she’s gone.

Wake Slideshow

Had to remove the music, but the pictures are great nonetheless.