Margaret O'Malley

Margaret M. O'Malley (nee Kendrick), age 89, of Havertown, PA, formerly of West Philadelphia, passed away on July 24, 2014. Born in Philadelphia, she was the daughter of the late Thomas and Catherine Kendrick (nee Devine). Margaret was a longtime parishioner of St. Francis de Sales Parish in Philadelphia. Margaret was employed as a Computer Technician for over 20 years with Provident Mutual Insurance Company in Philadelphia. She retired in 1992.



She is survived by her children Mary Anne Clark (Bob), Margie Kennedy (Glenn), Denise Dugan (Jim), Joe O'Malley, Kathy Price (Dave), Kevin O'Malley (Maureen), Judy Fitzpatrick (Bill) and Sean O'Malley (Maureen), her 16 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren, her sister Joan Van Lenten (John), her sisters-in-law Patricia Bradfield and Rose Kendrick, her brothers-in-law Thomas O'Malley and Joseph Neville, as well as numerous nieces, nephews, cousins and friends.



Relatives and friends are invited to visit the family Wednesday, July 30, 2014 7:00 PM-9:00 PM The Donohue Funeral Home, 3300 West Chester Pike, Newtown Square, PA (610) 353-6300 and to her Funeral Mass, Thursday, July 31, 2014 10:00 AM Sacred Heart Church, Manoa and Shelbourne Roads, Havertown, PA. Interment will be private.



In lieu of flowers, contributions in Margaret's memory to Chandler Hall Health Services Annual Fund, 99 Barclay Street, Newtown, PA 18940 would be appreciated.



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The family would love to thank Chandler Hall Health Services for the fantastic care that Mom received during the last few months of her life. We would especially like to thank Banu her staff nurse, Dr. Sitapara the attending doctor, the hospice nurse Maureen, the social worker Leanne, and Amanda & Rosa the care partners.



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The O'Malley grand-children have written some kind words and memories of Grandmom that they would like to share.



Kristin -

When I think of Grandma, Thanksgiving always comes to mind. The whole family would gather at Grandma's house, and there would be multiple tables, a million people coming and going and Grandma seemed to take it all in stride. Taking time to spend with each grandchild that would come, while whipping up the best gravy and mashed potatoes ever. She would always wear an apron and be buzzing around the house making sure everyone was taken care of. I do believe I am the only person in the family that didn't like Grandma's peanut butter cup cookies so she would always make me the most amazing caramel pecan cookies and send me home with a bunch of them. Always made me feel special because she did that just for me, especially with everyone else she was taking care of.



3 weeks ago I went to visit Grandma with my brother and Dan. Glenn and I prepared Dan for her to say crazy things as her mind had started really slipping by this point. When we arrived she was out in the common room having lunch and recognized me as soon as I walked up to her. She was able to walk back to her room and the 3 of just sat and talked. She had a clear mind and was very sharp. Even sharp enough to let me know to expect a invite to her 90th bday party in the mail and I was to throw it away because she was not attending because she didn't want to be the center of attention. She and Glenn began talking about history and their love of reading and Grandma out of the blue said she wished she would have done more with her life. I told her she accomplished a ton by having 8 kids and the BEST grandkids and great grandkids anyone could ask for and she agreed and said it with a smile. The greatness of what Grandma "accomplished" was very apparent when all 8 of her kids and several of her grandchildren, including myself, were with her when she passed away. Through all the drama, fights and activity that comes with having a huge family, Grandma brought her kids together one last time to be there for her and most importantly for each other. The O'Malley's stick together through thick and thin and that is an accomplishment I know Grandma is deeply proud of. However, her greatest feat of all happened a few hours prior to her passing away. I was in her room with, I believe all 5 of her daughters, the room was dead silent and BJ walks in and says, "WOW, this is quietest I have ever heard you guys!"



I love you Grandma! GO PHILLIES!!!!



Katie-

As the strong-willed matriarch of our sizable Irish family, Grandma O'Malley wasn't shy. She wasn't secretive. She had opinions, and she shared them. You could count on her for colorful commentary, sage advice and heartfelt words of wisdom. Her compliments and praise weren't empty pleasantries - they were genuine and unscripted. There was a realness about her that kept you on your toes and kept you smiling.

In the spirit of that realness, I'll share one of my favorite recent memories:



The first time I brought my now-husband to meet her, she cooked us breakfast: eggs, bacon, toast and (of course) scrapple. She had so much scrapple in her freezer that she insisted that we take an entire pound of it home. She'd forgotten that our trip home was a 3-hour plane ride to Florida. And after I reminded her - still, she persisted! (We didn't take the scrapple - though I wish we had!)



By sheer luck I was born into this amazing family and had the privilege of knowing and loving Grandma O'Malley. She may not have been keen on having others help her, but she has been helping us all for many years in so many different ways. By passing along her independent spirit, her strength and her outlook on life. To honor her memory, let us never forget this lesson: life is too short not to keep your freezer stocked with seven different varieties of ice cream.



Joe-

Of course I'll miss the candy, the Reese's cookies (wrapped or not), the never-ending supply of junk food. And I'll miss the offer to cook a full meal as soon as I walk in the door. I'll miss the comfort of knowing that I'm not the only change the channel to avoid highlights of a Phillies loss - and that I come by that obsession honestly. And of course, when we fly home, I'll wonder who's going to watch the news to make sure our flight didn't crash.



Moira-

I always liked Grandmom as a person, I loved her spirit, her love for her grand-children, her cookies, her endless knowledge, and of course that she ate what she wanted (obviously ice cream all day everyday) and did not care what anyone else thought about it. She was so strong-willed to the point that it was impressive and admirable. The wisdom that I have gained from her surpasses all knowledge that I will gain throughout my life time and I am so eternally thankful for this. Because of this it makes me proud to be an O'Malley. She has passed on some pretty amazing genes and I hope that we can all someday be in her likeness.



There are so many fond memories that I have of Grandmom it is hard to choose which ones. However, there is one that sticks out in my mind. I had my roommate come up for thanksgiving one year during college because she lived far away. We were on our way to visit Grandmom and we were forewarning her of the absolute insanity (of course a good insanity) that she was about to encounter. When we arrived Grandmom insisted on filling us up with candy and cookies and even ice cream and after eating we got to talking with my parents and her. All of the sudden the door bell rings and my father goes to get up but she abruptly stops him. She says "thats the door bell sound of the door bell that flew off last year." She continues on to tell us this so candidly and matter of fact that it seemed like she was joking with us, but little did we know, she wasn't. She told this story like this was normal that she in fact had three doorbells. What she goes on to say is that all three of her sons had so kindly put in doorbells and that is why she had three, but the funny part was that two of the doorbells had fallen off during storms and that they still occasionally rung. She said that she could tell the working doorbell sound apart from the two that had flown off and that when they ring she won't get up to get them (thats if she could hear it anyway). All in all, you would hear these stories and think this has got to be fake but they actually turn out to be true and you usually cannot contain the laughter that then ensues.



Grandmom is irreplaceable and will surely be missed!



Declan, age 3 - "Grammy O'Malley is not in heaven, she is in Ireland. But Ireland is a lot like heaven!"



Mary Grace-

Dear Grammy,

I will never forget you and your cookies. Of course, you will always be the best grandmom a grandchild could ever have. I will always love you and you will always be the most beautiful grandmom in heaven.

Love,

Mary Grace



Jack-

Dear Grammy,

You will be in my heart forever and I will talk to you every day. I'll always remember how you loved to give us sweets and how you were always happy. I'll also remember how you liked to joke around and laugh a lot. Also, I will remember your love for the Phillies.

Love,

Jack



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Her son Kevin also has some words to say:



Mom passed peacefully surrounded by all her children and several of her grandchildren. Lovingly, Mom, was a strong willed, opinionated women who spoke her mind and when she did you listened. Mom had a very good sense of humor and always had a zinger to keep you in line. She was even fortunate to be blessed with 16 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren. The love mom had for her grandkids was her legacy; she spoiled them whenever she could. There was always copious amounts of ice cream and cookies available when they came to visit which to their credit, was quite often. The ice cream and cookies was a good lure for the kids and of course, served as a self serving tactic; mom was no dummy.



There was a tough side to mom, a side that several of us were not very successful at avoiding. When she would met out punishment it was usually fairly severe, but well deserved. Mom raised eight wonderful children and taught us all about hard work, fairness and respect for other people. Mom provided the foundation for all of us to grow up loving our siblings and taught us more than we could ever imagine about respecting our family.



There are many great memories of mom, some we would like to forget, but many of the memories were a hell of a lot funnier years later than when they actually happened. So my case in point, one time Glen Kennedy came to the house for his first date with Margie but when he walked in the door he was met by mom chasing Joey down the living room steps beating him over the head with a plastic golf club. This obviously, for something I am certain was deserving of such a reaction. Amazingly enough Glen came back!



Another not so fond memory was the first time my Maureen met mom. For those of you who knew mom you knew of her fear of flying, a fear that truly was debilitating for her. She was flying along with Sean to visit Kathy in Florida and was leaving from Newark, NJ airport and I had volunteered to drive her to EWR. I had asked Maureen to join me, and this being the first time Maureen was meeting mom. During the ride I discovered that Mom had a quart of orange juice with her which I though was a bit unusual but I just figured she was looking out for Sean as he was still a young kid at the time. During the 2 hour ride to EWR there was the usual small talk, no in-depth conversation just chit chat. Mo was nervous meeting mom for the first time and knowing mom she was probably a bit apprehensive about meeting the new girlfriend. Little did I know, mom in an effort to overcome her fear of flying, had spiked to the OJ with vodka. Mom did not drink! When we arrived at EWR airport mom was plastered and her fear of flying was at the bottom of that OJ container. When mom arrived in Florida I asked her about the flight and not surprisingly she had remembered none of it. I spent the two hour drive back home explaining to my future wife that what she saw today was totally out of charter for mom. But, like Glen, Mo came back.



Some of the fondest memories we all have are of Christmas time. One time in particular I remember sitting at the top the steps peaking down at Mom and Dad putting together Christmas toys for the eight of us. They clearly were going to be up all night. All of us then came down a hour or so later to find them sound asleep on the couch after being up all night playing Santa. To this day I do not know how mom and dad made every Christmas a fond one given the limited resources and eight kids to feed, but they always did.



Mom was a huge Phillies fan and I can remember summer nights listening to the Phillies on the radio being that mom rarely missed a game. In later years she was fortunate enough to attend the winning game of the 1980 World Series and latter on Mo, Mom and I attended the 2008 LCS and witnessed the Phillies make their way to the 2008 World series classic. Even near the end she was talking about the Phils and the current slide they are in, a true die hard Phillies fan!



I could go on and on about the good and not so good, but one thing is absolutely without reservation, while she sometimes did not show her feelings, Mom had a love for her children that stayed with her until her final day.



This past Wednesday Mom had failed considerably and we were all called to her bedside. When I arrived I knew things were serious and the end was not to far off. Mom was struggling too speak but the smile in her eyes was unmistakable. As I got close to the bed Mom held my hand and struggled to get out the three best words I ever her her speak..."I Love You" Those words will stay with me forever and be my fondest memory of mom.



Mom passed with eight angles surrounding her, OK I took a liberty here, but make no mistake it was with her eight children who will forever have fond memories and a lasting love for her.



Rest Peacefully



"I Love you"



Kevin



Oh and one more thing mom, in an effort to keep peace in heaven; if dad wants to play golf... let him!