· My mother was born in 1922, one of seven children born to Stephen Lynch and Mary Laura Thibadeau Lynch. She was raised on a family farm in Alberta, Canada.

· She met my father while teaching elementary school in one-room schoolhouse. Five days later, he proposed to her. They were married in 1947 and she moved to join him at Notre Dame in South Bend, IN.

· It must have been scary for a 24-year old girl to leave behind in Canada her family, her friends, and everyone she knew. The poem by Robert Frost entitled “The Road Less Taken,” brings to mind her fateful decision:

· “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I –

I took the one less traveled by,

and that has made all the difference.”

· While my parents were living in South Bend, my sister Gloria and brother Terry were born.

· In 1955, my father accepted a position at ORNL, and the family moved to Oak Ridge, and this is where my sister Laura and I were born. She resided in Oak Ridge for the rest of her life.

· As I reflect on my mother, she was a very giving person. Her children were always the center of her life. One example of this is that in the 43 years I have known her, she never once took a vacation anywhere without having her children along. That gave her children the wonderful opportunity to experience places like San Juan, P.R., Washington, D.C., Miami, Honolulu, Tampa, and Canada. If anyone had stopped to ask her “Roma, what is your greatest accomplishment in life?” She would have answered without hesitation “my children.”

· There are also numerous instances of my mother giving to others outside the family. You have already read in her obituary how she used to leave a large thermos filled with ice water and four to six fresh cups for the men who picked up garbage in our neighborhood. She did this year after year quietly, without any recognition, and expecting nothing in return.

· Other examples include the way she took in a lady from St. Mary’s parish who had lost her job and was unable to pay her apartment rent. This woman was basically homeless, and she lived with us for about a month. She also sometimes gave people rides to church to attend morning mass and brought them back home. For the pilgrimages to Conyers, she would rent a bus to take a large group from St. Mary’s parish, and if people did not pay in advance, she made up the difference out of her own pocket. The point is that she gave her money and her time without expecting anything in return.

· The poet Walt Whitman once said, “Behold, I do not give lectures or little charity. When I give, I give myself.” And that she did; she gave of herself. I learned how to care for an elderly parent by watching her loving care for my father.

· People say to me “It must have been hard to care for a frail and elderly parent.” But I answer this truthfully. On some days it was hard, but overall, it was a great pleasure to live, talk, eat, and laugh with her each day. She had a very good sense of humor throughout her life. I can’t believe my role in caring for her is over. Looking back, it all seems too easy.

· One of her favorite songs from church is “They’ll Know We are Christians by Our Love.” This song exemplifies her faith and life: we will be recognized as Christians by our acts of love.

· One of her favorite quotations from the bible was “And now abideth faith, hope, and love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

· Although Alzheimer’s affected my mother’s short-term memory, she compensated for the loss by being extremely courteous when assistance was provided to her. For the past eight years, she always said “thank you,” whenever I got her a utensil, or something to drink, or brought her food, or brought anything to her. Have you ever heard of Alzheimer’s making a person even nicer? That is my true-life experience.

· I would like to thank Fr. Greg Boisvert, Fr. Michael Woods, and all of you for coming here today in this celebration of Roma Guth’s life. It means a lot to our family.

[At this point, I would like to depart from my prepared text and tell a short story about Fr. Greg Boisvert. Father Greg traveled 3 hours each way from Bristol, TN, to be here, and we really appreciate it. Father Greg has a master’s degree in physics. My father, who always attended mass with us as I was growing up, was raised Jewish and was not baptized Catholic until he was in his early 70s. Afterward, my mother used to bring him to church on occasion and see that he went to Confession. One time after she had made her own confession, she was kneeling in the pew and waiting for my father to return. When he came back to where she was sitting, she asked him “Did you go to confession?” Then he said, according to my mother who is telling this story, “Yes. I vent (went) to confession. But vee (we) also talked a little physics.”

My mother always laughed each time she told that story. If you knew my father, then you would know it would have been torture for him to be in the same room as a physicist and not let him talk physics. Fr. Greg Boisvert was loved by our whole family.

Then we come to Fr. Michael Woods – there was a special connection between this Irish priest and my mother, who was very proud or her Irish ancestry.]

And finally, let me thank all of you for your kindness, your generosity, and your prayers.

Michael A. S. Guth, Ph.D., J.D., is a constitutional law attorney, legal brief writer, and health care researcher based in Oak Ridge, TN. A web page describing his law practice and other legal writings is available at http://michaelguth.com. His current research comprises inefficiencies in health care insurance, pharmaceutical pricing, and best available treatments for Alzheimer’s disease, osteoporosis, and high cholesterol. He has developed and/or taught more than twenty on-line courses at more than a dozen educational institutions in the areas of economics, finance, business strategy, business law, health care administration, politics, and criminal justice. Interested students are encouraged to view his web page at http://michaelguth.com/economist/pharmecon/pharmecon.htm/ and and click on some of the papers and articles he has written.

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