Memorial Mass - Clare Marie Trautfield Conk

Our brilliant and accomplished mother Clare Marie Trautfield Conk (1922 - 2015) was remembered at a Mass of Christian Burial at the beautiful Blessed Junipero Serra Chapel, Mission Santa Barbara, on February 6, 2015.  By sad coincidence my sister Kathryn Therese, who had long been in poor health, died the night before and was remembered on this our saddest day.

My mother was eulogized by me, my sister Nancy, and my brother Peter who read a passage from the Book of Proverbs.  My brother Steven read a letter from Paul to the Philippians, reminding me that he had been a champion high school  forensic speaker.  Mom's husband of seventy years, our dear father George, was present, struggling with the flu.  They had marked their 70th anniversary on January 27, only four days before our mother's passing.

With Nancy, Dad, Norma, Peter

George at Serra Chapel, Mission Santa Barbara

Mom and Dad, Stones Point, Maine- 2009

Clare never passed up a boat ride

with Sophia Clare Conk - her youngest grandchild

With Dad and Nan at the dedication
Clare Conk Castillo homes

Mom was a WWII vet - a Navy WAV
and a member of the California Bar - self-taught!

We all walk this earth feeling we are frauds - The Quotable David Carr - NYTimes.com

David Carr was a great journalist and, hardest of all, an honest memoirist.  He was addicted to crack cocaine, nicotine, endangered his tiny twin daughters and yet managed to redeem himself.  But he did not escape the damage he had done to his body.  He collapsed in the Times newsroom - dead at 58.  He knew as Benedictine Brother David Steindel Rast said that "gratefulness is the heart of prayer".

The Quotable David Carr - NYTimes.com
‘We All Walk This Earth Feeling We Are Frauds’

From his book, The Night of the Gun:

“I now inhabit a life I don’t deserve, but we all walk this earth feeling we are frauds. The trick is to be grateful and hope the caper doesn’t end soon.”

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