Dear Family and Friends,
The husband of my sister Joan, "Uncle" Peter Reehil, died at home today,
Friday, in West Islip, Long Island at 3 p.m. (the hour of Devine Mercy
as the Lord revealed to St. Faustina) in the bosom of his loving wife,
children and grandchildren, his pastor and his doctor. Older Catholics
among you will remember how we always prayed to St. Joseph for the grace
of a happy death. The act of dying may be difficult indeed, but which of
us does not think about and pray that our own time to leave this earth
might be like Peter's, at home in the company of the Lord and in the
arms of our dear ones?
Peter was terribly ill from cancer for some fifteen and more years. He
was a grand Catholic man, a Korean-era Army paratrooper, a retired
teacher, devoted husband and father of four splendid daughters. Growing
up just blocks away from my family, he was a local Queens Village,N.Y.
boy, attended the same parish church, same parish school as we Nolans,
and worked as a loan officer in a local bank while attending college on
the GI Bill. I remember him, his parents and extended family as far
back as the early 1950's. Always he called me Kenneth.
We loved talking
endlessly together whenever, on military leave or after retirement, we
visited their home. What I will always remember about Peter and be ever
grateful to him for were the many kindnesses he lavished upon my mother
in her declining years. My mother thought the world of Peter. He cared
for her in his home, took her to the doctor, etc. How often he wheeled
her a couple of blocks to mass at his parish of Our Lady of Lourdes. Do
I doubt that this very evening she has already thanked him in person,
welcomed him "home", and rejoiced with him as he was finally reuniting
with his own parents, Ruth and John? Not on your life! Because, as we
have been told:
"Eyes have not seen, nor ears heard the treasures our Father has stored
up for us in Heaven." Go in the peace of the Lord dear sweet brother!
Kenneth
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