(Nee Gierens) Born to Eternal Life on April 1, 2020, at age 87. Beloved wife of the late Kenneth R. Genac. Loving mother of Kenneth C., Gary (Mary), Jeff (Sue), David (Oscar), and the late Alan Genac. Proud grandmother of 9 grandchildren, and 9 great-grandchildren. Also loved by her nieces, nephews, other family and friends. Preceded in death by her siblings.
Due to the current health situation, private services were held.
Marion’s family wishes to share the beautiful tribute to her that was read at her Funeral Mass. It was written and read by her son, David.
Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus.
Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death, amen.
Reciting three Hail Mary’s in the morning and in the evening is a traditional Roman Catholic practice which calls upon the mother Mary to bless us with purity and other virtues. Saying Three Hail Mary’s was a belief and practice of my mom’s. Since this prayer was important to her, I think the theme of Three Hail Mary’s serves as an excellent symbol of the most important things in my mom’s life.
The first Hail Mary in my mom’s life was undoubtedly her Catholic faith. It is very fitting that we are here today for my mom’s funeral at Saint Agnes Catholic Church. She was a very devout Catholic, and of course, my mom loved the Catholic Church–but more specifically she loved Saint Agnes Catholic Church.
My mom’s favorite part of this church, no doubt was going to Sunday mass. She loved saying prayers here and listening to the music, but her favorite part of all was listening to the sermon every week. The priests here at Saint Agnes knew the joys and the struggles of the people sitting in these pews. The priests here were exceptional in integrating my mom’s faith into her life. She came here for guidance, inspiration, and hope…she never left this building disappointed. My mom and dad found connection and comfort by being parishioners of this church for nearly 60 years. In my childhood years, I remember that they found inspiration in Father Carrick, Father Wilbur, Father Cunningham, Father Wolf, Father Andy, Father Tim and others.
Most recently she found hope and happiness and in you, Father Mark.
My mom was also very proud that she sent her children here to Saint Agnes School. It was not easy for my parents to pay the tuition for us to go here…but they made that sacrifice because it was important that we had a good quality education that was guided by their values.
However, what was most important to my mom and dad was being involved with us kids through this school. For example, they loved taking the whole family to watch me and my brothers’ basketball and football games. My brothers were fairly good athletes, particularly my brother Alan, but I was a horrible basketball player, yet my parents loved going to all the games regardless of our talent.
I even remember the first year that my brothers Gary and Jeff played for the football team, my mom cut fabric and used her sewing machine to make the letters of each player’s last name and she sewed them on to the back of their jerseys, so the parents could easily spot their child on the field.
And in addition to supporting the sports teams, my mom also enjoyed making things like cookies and cupcakes for bake sales.
Saint Agnes Catholic Church…Hail Mary to you.
The second Hail Mary in my mom’s life was family…. My mom was lucky that she found her soulmate in my father. My parents shared similar views in life because they were both raised through the Great Depression. The poverty caused by the Great Depression impacted their lives in very profound ways.
They knew what it felt like to go to sleep with a hungry belly and to have only one set of clothes. Even though these challenges made their childhood very difficult, it taught them important values of helping their family members and neighbors, having a strong work ethic, never giving up, and to only buy the things that you need. The hardships of their childhood instilled values within them that helped them to have a very strong marriage and to work together to be successful parents.
My mom genuinely loved being a mom. Her family was truly her greatest joy. She loved the routine of cooking meals for a family of seven and having us all seated around the table at the same time.
She was very proud that none of her children had to go to sleep with a hungry belly at night…
But was even more important to my mom was that her dinners taught us the importance of sharing our lives physically in the presence of one another. My mom instinctually knew that it was important to be emotionally connected with one another in the presence of one another…
And speaking of human connections, my mom also loved being a parent who was interwoven into the lives of our neighbor’s families. This made her life more enjoyable, and our lives as kids a lot of fun. My siblings and I really enjoyed the close interactions that we had with the neighbor families…the Kelches…the Shebuski’s, the Grady’s…the Steven’s… and the Howell family. We were never bored. It was wonderful that all the neighbors shared common values that kind of made it like we were all one big family. In fact, all of the neighbor moms gave each other the authority to discipline any of us as if we were their own child. But more importantly than discipline, all of the parents shared the responsibility to support and love us as if we were their own child.
In fact, one of my most powerful memories of my childhood, was Ruth Howell being so kind to me in a time of need. I was a very little boy then, and I went to the football fields with my brothers to watch them practice with the football team. But unfortunately, on that night, the restrooms at the fields were locked, which resulted in me wetting myself because I just couldn’t hold it any longer. I immediately ran off the fields to Ruth Howell’s house so that no other kids could see what happened to me. Not only did she clean me up, she kept my accident a secret, so that no other kid had the opportunity to tease me… She saved my dignity.
Tootie Kelch also did me a big favor as one of my neighbor mom’s. However, she helped me as a 30-year-old neighbor boy. Mrs. Kelch…thank you so much for being brave and loving by sharing your experiences about being a mom of a gay son with my mom. You helped my mom to be publicly proud of me, instead of being embarrassed of me. I know that your connection with my mom helped her to love me and my partner Oscar. She valued our relationship just as much as the relationships of her other sons.
Hail Mary to all the moms of our lives that love their families…
I need y’all to hang in here with me, I have one more Hail Mary to go…
This Hail Mary is about the fun things that were important to my mom. My mom enjoyed life.
One thing she loved was using her creativity and talent through arts and crafts. Every time I go into our family’s Milwaukee home, I see so many things beautiful things that my mom made. She has made paintings, she made ceramic lamps, ceramic christmas trees, and beer stein’s…she made custom rugs, and needlepoint masterpieces. I know she really enjoyed making crafts with us as little kids and she loved making crafts with her good friend Ruth Howell.
Another big hobby of my mom’s was fishing. Catching fish was in my mom’s DNA to which she passed on to her children. She learned how to fish as a young child from her father and her brother. My grandpa and my Uncle Fred were such good fishermen that their fishing stories were actually true. She learned from the best.
Fortunately for about the last 20 years during my father’s life, my parents were able to do a lot of fishing together. They loved to take their fishing boat to local lakes and just kick back and relax. Of course, they brought their little fishing buddy named Midnight. Midnight was a little black dog. I loved hearing their story of the one time when they were driving their boat and little Midnight fell over the front of the boat while it was in motion. Of course, my parents were terrified that he could have accidentally been hit by the propeller on the boat engine. Fortunately, the story ended well, and Midnight’s head eventually popped up out of the water and they rescued him. Story has it, Midnight wasn’t fazed one bit and enjoyed the swim.
After my father’s death, my mom’s next fishing buddy was my brother Kenny. I’m so happy that she purchased my Uncle Fred’s fishing getaway close to the mighty Mississippi River. My mom and Kenny have been going there for years to go fishing and to connect with relatives in that area. My mom has told me many times how much she has enjoyed spending time there with Kenny and going to the family reunions in that area.
One thing for certain though is fishing was truly in her DNA, I think it’s one of reasons all of siblings including my late brother Alan, had or now have fishing boats.
Lastly, I want to tell you about one more of my mom’s passions…
And that’s being a Green Bay Packer fan. She loved being a Packer fan. She tailgated in her living room enjoying bratwurst, potato salad, and Miller lite.
She had a great memory for sharing the highlights of the games with me. She also loved wearing Green Bay Packers clothing and decorating her car and home with Green Bay Packer swag. But my mom’s favorite part about being a Green Bay Packers fan was appreciating that for nearly 20 years the Packers have had the two best quarterbacks in the land – Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers.
Every time I come home to Milwaukee it puts a big smile on my face walking into her house and seeing all the fan memorabilia about Brett Favre. My mom even painted a life-size cardboard cutout of Brett Favre which was so cool. I truly loved that on many Sundays or on Monday Night Football I would get a call from my mom asking me if I was watching the game.
I know I’ll miss getting those calls on Sundays, but I know my mom will be with me when I watch Packer games. And I know I’ll particularly look forward to the very last play of the game when the Packers are down by six and Aaron Rodgers steps up and starts to call out to the play, the ball gets snapped to him and we all put our faith in him that he wins the game by throwing a…
Hail Mary…full of grace. The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus.
Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death, amen.
