Weddings and Wakes

The news on Sunday was not unexpected. We all knew it was probably going to happen sooner than later. Aunt Emma has been in declining health for years, is 89, and is now pretty much guaranteed to pass away very soon, suffering from Alzheimer's for years.

So it was no surprise when Emma's daughter put the word out on Monday that her mother had passed away. Aunt Emma is really a cousin of my wife's; being a cousin of her mother. Emma was born as Winifred in 1928 in what was the a farming community of Freehold, New Jersey. She was the second youngest of six, and the last surviving member of the older Layton family tree. After being named Winifred she quickly became known as Emma for some reason that no one now remembers. Just a whim. Her youngest sister Helen also had another name at birth as well, Catherine. Her brother Herbert, the oldest and only brother, was named Joseph at birth.

Aunt Emma is survived by two of her three children, five grandchildren, one great-grandchild and enough nieces and nephews to qualify her for membership in the Kennedy clan, of which she actually became friends with.

Her marriage to John Canty put the rest of her life in Massachusetts, living in Sommervile, Buzzards Bay, and eventually Centerville, where her daughter lived. Her lifelong Catholic faith would put her in the Centerville Roman Catholic church, Our Lady of Victory, at the same time as when Ethel Kennedy was attending mass. They would talk, each a reigning matriarch of an expanding family.

She was a family favorite, who everyone liked and loved. 'Nobody doesn't like Sara Lee?' Applies to Emma.

Emma's husband John was a police officer, and eventually a fireman in Sommervile, and passed away in 2006. He last worked at Otis Air Force base as a maintenance worker, and, being a WW II veteran, is buried on the base.

The daughter Lorraine cared for her mother in her home after Emma was unable to care for herself, living in the house next door. Emma passed away at Lorraine's.

So, given the current means of communication, yesterday a notice was posted on Facebook, and emails went out. This is the email I got from my wife, who was at work when the news went out.

Lorraine contacted Susan grandma Em passed away this morning. As Lorraine put it the wake, funeral and party are on Saturday. 

A subsequent email gave more details,

wake Sat 11-2 Funeral Mass at 2  the party at yacht club at 3

If you haven't guessed by now, you should be able to tell the Laytons and Cantys are of Irish ancestry.

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