A Celebration of Life
for Sue Hoying
Eulogy by Joe Hoying,
loving husband and father
I would like to thank everyone for coming to help celebrate Sue's life with our family. I am
honored that I may speak for my wife, your teacher, and your friend. She was a very, very special
person. She was a loving mother
and a loving wife, but most importantly, she was a loving teacher. Be it with our own children at home, or
your children here at school, she was always teaching. For 21 years, she gave her heart and soul to St. Raphael's. She really
loved this place. Her love of St. Raphael's was seen each day in her smile, in her laugh, in her ways of interacting with the kids. She really loved
her fellow teachers. They meant
the world to her. She always felt
that a school, although made out of bricks and stone, was truly built by the
teachers who helped make it a great place. St. Raphael's was her life.
Over the past 5 months, Sue and I have become closer than we
ever have been in our 34 years of marriage. We shared late night conversations together over everything, but we always ended up talking about St. Raphael's and her school. One thing that Sue was very worried about
was the children, and 2 weeks ago, she gave me a task that I had to
complete. I was instructed to pass
this information on. For months,
the children have been praying for a miracle to happen. She was worried that the children would
feel that their prayers had not been answered. And up until these past couple of weeks, this has really bothered
her. Then one night, during one of
our conversations, she figured it all out. The children had been praying for a miracle, and a miracle
did happen. The kids were praying for Sue's healing, but at the same time, Sue had been praying for the kids. She realized that the miracle to come
out of this was that there were thousands of people who were called to prayer
together. Each day, children would
unite together in prayer for a common cause. Youth Rosary groups were formed and met daily. Men and women, mothers and fathers, and
children prayed nightly. Sue helped
to bring all of this to us. She helped strengthen people's faith and helped teach the power of prayer. The miracle
that we all were praying for did not happen, but the miracle that Sue was
praying for came true. She said
that prayers may not have been able to save her, but the miracle was that she
was able to teach thousands of people to pray and believe in the power of
prayer.
I urge you all to continue praying. Pray with Sue. Pray for my family. Pray for your own families. Pray for the school. Pray nightly with your kids. Continue the Rosary Clubs. Continue to teach others to pray. But most important of all, never lose faith in the power of prayer.
Thank you and
God Bless, The Hoying Family