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Edited by Eddie Fernandes, eddie@fernandes.u-net.com.
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Ana Beatriz D'Souza (Mrs Orfino): Eulogy

By Francis Rebello

18 June 2008: Parra, Goa. ANA BEATRIZ D'SOUZA (MRS ORFINO). Ex-Kampala. Wife of late Orfino. Mother of late Alba/Ignatius (Canada), Edwiges (Eddie)/Renate (Germany), Anita/Francis. Grandmother of Patricia/Gary (Canada), Jennifer/Kevin (Canada), Alison/Ashu (England), Sharon/Antonio (Germany), Lillian, Valerian.

Eulogy delivered at the funeral by Francis Rebello
Eulogy delivered at the funeral of Mrs Ana Beatrice D’ Souza ( Mrs Orfino) formally Kampala

By Francis Rebello on the 18th of June 2008.

Thanks to all for the messages of sympathy and condolence sent.

A life, a very long life, that of our beloved Ana Beatriz has come to an end. A life so long it spanned all of 101 years. A life of dedication to family, commitment to faith and the ideals she stood for, courage in the face of adversity. To us she was Mae, a loving mother, to her many grandchildren and great-grandchildren who looked upon her as a matriarch, she was simply Mama.
If she were to look around at this congregation she would find so many of you she knew, so many she remembered. That you gave of your time to be here to share in this Eucharistic tribute would be pleasing to her, even as it is to us, her family, who are very grateful. To each of you we say a sincere Thank You..

We will miss her dearly. There will be the mourning, there will be the tears. There will be the heartache and the yearning for the return of her days with us. As we struggle to come to terms with our loss there will be the remembering. Remembering the person she was, her helpful and caring ways. Her skills with needle and thread, her talent at cooking. In times of sickness and when difficulties arose she was our strength, the guiding force in the lives we led.

Though time will ease the burden of our sorrow and memories become overlapped as the years go by we will not forget. She will remain amongst us, visually alive in the stacks of photographs taken all through her life, a treasure for the family generations to come.

In a little while we will be taking her on her final journey, the last lap to her last resting place. As we consign her mortal remains to the cold damp earth, we will find solace in the unshaken belief that she is in the warm embrace of our Heavenly Mother to whom she has, over the years, prayed countless beads on the rosary, Comforted too as we remind ourselves of the words of Thomas Campbell : To live in the hearts we leave behind is not to die.

Sleep well, beloved Mae. Rest in eternal peace.
 
Funded by donations from the UK Goan Community.