Ronnie McWilliams Celebration of Life
8 January 2016
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To all of you, our deep and sincere gratitude for your participation in all we've been trying to accomplish to memorably honor our Lady of the House. Because of you, and all who helped set up the dinner and the Mass at the Mater Dei Chapel, and all who attended either or both, there is no doubt in our minds what we set out to do accomplished the purposes intended. We humbly thank you, and we are certain the Lady of the House does as well. |
View of the Sunrise Room, just inside the door, looking east; Table #3 on the left in the foreground; Table #4 on right; Nearest the window, on the left is Table #1, and on the right is Table #2. |
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The Lady of Our House, being honored, on display in the Sunrise Room.
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On the right is Alan Aimone, the second from the right is his wife, Barbara Aimone (retired out of Newburgh, NY and moved here); the couple to the left of Alan Aimone (backs toward the camera) are Stefaynie and Jerry Garosz (close friends at St. Elizabeth's Church); to Jerry's left (head turned watching the waiter) is Mary Alice Stockdale (daughter of Bill Stockdale, Sr. [Table 2], and retired Air Force nurse now working at the local VA hospital); to her left is Ray Stafford; his wife, Fran Stafford, is hidden from view to the right of the waiter. To the left of the waiter is Fran Smith-Hicks, our wonderful professional caregiver Ronnie and I hired 17 December 2014. |
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L-R From Table 4: Fran Stafford, Ray Stafford, and Fran Smith-Hicks. Fran and Ray are our next door neighbors, and Fran fell in love with our Ronnie and devoted her life to caring for The Lady of Our House the last year of her life. |
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Table 4, R-L around the table counter clockwise Alan and Barabara Aimone, Fran Smith-Hicks, Fran and Ray Stafford, Mary Alice Stockdale, Jerry and Stefaynie Jarosz. |
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Table 4, facing the camera, L-R, Barbara and Alan Aimone,
Foreground on the right in dark blue is Mary Alice Stockdale.
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From Table 4, next door neighbors, Fran Stafford, Ray, and Fran Smith,
professional caregiver Ronnie and I hired in December 2014.
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Table 3, R-L around the table begining with Fr. Dresden, who gave the invocation and said Mass the next morning at 11:00 AM; Mary Ann Villet, our younger daughter who arrived here on Sunday, 4 October as an assisting caregiver for her mother; her son and our grandson John Villet of Boise, ID and Portland, OR; Heidi Russell, local Palm Mortuary representative; Bill Stockdale, Jr., son of Bill Stockdale, Sr., and is an officer in the Las Vegas Police Department; and Kathy Garibay; Bill Stockdale, Jr.'s fiancee. |
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Table 3, facing the camera, R-L around the table counter-clockwise, Kathy Garibay, Rick and Jennifer Garcia, good friends of many years in Saint Elizabeth's parish; Fr. Dresden, Mary Ann Villet, John Villet, Heidi Russell, Bill Stockdale, Jr. |
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L-R our younger daughter, Mary Ann Villet, and Heidi Russell
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On Table 3, Fr. Shawn Dresden
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From L-R: Table 3, Jennifer and Rick Garcia;
From Table 4, Stefaynie and Jerry Jarosz.
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On Table 2, From R-L, counterclockwise around the table: Tom Stava in the dark red shirt; our youngest and last grandson, Daniel Allen McWilliams; his mother and our daughter-in-law, Shari McWilliams, our son and youngest of our three children, Bill IV, living with his family in Boise, ID, where he works at MICRON TECHNOLOGY; Bill Stockdale, Sr., longtime good friend who is a graduate of West Point's class of 1951, with his wife, Kathy; Tom Sims, who is a longtime good friend and my classmate in our West Point class of 1955; to his right is Patti Stava, who with her husband, Tom, on her left, graced Ronnie and me during the final year of her life with religious outreach from our St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church, in the form of home visits on Sundays to give both of us Holy Communion. |
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Faces visible across Table 2 are, L-R around the table, our grandson Daniel Allen McWilliams, Tom Stava, Patti Stava, Tom Sims, Kathy Stockdale, Bill Stockdale, Sr., our son, Bill McWilliams IV. Shari is on the other side of Bill IV. |
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Ed Hall, 92 year-old Pearl Harbor survivor, from Table 1; and our 13 year-old grandson, Daniel Allen McWilliams, from Table 2, engage in conversation. |
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From Table 2, L-R, our lovely daughter-in-law Shari McWilliams and her son Daniel Allen; and from Table 1, son-in-law Larry Mendenhall (Philipsburg, MT), Daniel's uncle, who works in Hewlett-Packard. In the background to the left of Larry is our daughter and Larry's wife, Kate Mendenhall. |
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From Table 2, on the right, R-L, our son, Bill IV; yours truly from Table 1, enjoying a laugh; Ed Hall, Table 1; and our grandson from Table 3, John Villet, youngest of two sons of our daughter, Mary Ann Villet, not pictured here. |
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Ed Hall, Pearl Harbor Survivor, conversing with
Nina Finn, our neighbor across the street.
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L-R: Son-in-law Larry Mendenhall having fun; our daughter
Kate, and our grandson, Daniel Allen, who was on Table 2.
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L-R, our daughter, Kathleen (Kate) Mendenhall, who lives near Philipsburg, MT: lifelong friend and first cousin on my mother's side of the house, Ron Brock, from Scottsdale, AZ; and yours truly. |
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Striking photograph of Edward E. Hall, our Pearl
Harbor survivor. Wonderful gentleman, too.
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Lovely couple Nina and Jack Finn, our neighbors across the street.
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L-R: Carolyn Brock, me in between Carolyn and her husband, Ron Brock. Carolyn took many of the photographs you have been viewing the past few days. |
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L-R, Heidi Russell, from Table 3; yours truly from Table 1; our son, Bill IV, from Table 2; and my first cousin, Ron Brock, Table 1, and traveled from Scottsdale, AZ. |
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The Lady of the House, and her Personal Guard every where.
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At Table 1, before dinner, I am opening a gift of a Celtic Cross from Carolyn and Ron Brock, with Ron Brock sitting quietly on my left. The cross now hangs in our master bedroom on a wall below a large group of memory-filled photographs of the beautiful Lady of Our House, and near her oil painting. |
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Don't believe I showed this one previously. If not, here's its story - after you read the poem. This small gift, one was on each table, is a replica of the original, which our daughter, Mary Ann Villet, discovered tucked away in a small drawer in our dining room, after Ronnie had left us for a much happier life than the one she, at the last, endured. We regard it as 'a message from heaven' which now sits atop a small booklet titled, 'You Mean So Much To Me,' a book of poems which I bought and gave her as a gift in 1993, as we were beginning a new life and career as a writer and his wife - a new adventure which was filled with unmapped roads to unknown places. Both rest on a table next to my bed, with her 'message from heaven', which I read each night, at days end. Inside the booklet's cover, I wrote the following to The Love of My Life: |
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This religious-themed painting of Mother Mary, with Jesus in her arms, was painted by Ronnie while she was taking art lessons in Washington, DC in the period, 1973-75. It was displayed during the Mass and Fr. Dresden pointed it out during his homily, as an example of her talent. If you look closely in the lower left corner, you can see she signed it as Ron. At home, the picture hangs over the fireplace in our den, a constant reminder to all of us, of her inner beauty and powerful faith. |
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In front of the Chapel Altar, below the urn containing her cremains, is
a lovely photograph of Ronnie that also hangs on the wall in our den.
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This final photograph, taken during the Mass depicts our three grown children's participation in their mother's services, the act of bringing gifts forward to hand to Fr. Dresden for Communion. Our son, Bill IV, walking toward the camera, has just handed his gift to Fr. Dresden, who is behind Bill accepting our daughter's - Mary Ann Villet's - gift, with Kate Mendenhall, waiting behind Mary to hand Fr. Dresden her gift. I'm seated at the left edge in the foreground, in the blue suit, and the three children are returning to their three vacant seats, to my left. |