Thu 1/12/2006 7:32 AMHere is the Eulogy that was read at Mom's Funeral.  When I get a chance I will write, in detail what happend during her last few days.  Sorry it has taken me a few days to send this out to you.  Mary   

ELEANORE DOMBROWSKI In having to write a eulogy for Mom, the foremost thoughts that occur to us are that we kids were so lucky to have Eleanore as our Mom. Mom was devoted, loving, a tough taskmaster at times, who ensured that we were given both roots and wings.  

We were given roots in our traditional Catholic upbringing. Mom was very strong in her Catholic faith. We all went to Catholic schools for 12 years. That was very important to Mom and Dad that we had a good Catholic education. 

We always knew that we didn’t have a stay at home Mom when stay at home Moms were the norm - because Mom was working to help pay our tuition. Mom and Dad’s strong sense of the importance of education, has helped all of us be successful “well educated” adults. They gave us our wings to figure out life, but were always there to help us when we needed it.  Mom raised us to be Team Dombrowski. 

When we were young, we were treated as members of the team. Family Saturdays consisted of team cleaning. We all had our assigned chores on Saturday mornings and Mom expected the results of our chores to meet her expectations. We all remember cleaning and dreaded Inspector Mom saying, “This room wasn’t cleaned!” We might have forgotten to empty the trash, leave a little Ajax in the sink, or forgotten to clean the back of the toilet seat. Mom expected us to do the job right.  

Mom and Dad enjoyed their children. There were plenty of family Sunday outings going to state parks in the summer and visiting relatives.  Mom and Dad took us on vacations every year. The most memorable include going to Canada and a three- week cross county trip to Yellowstone National Park. We took a camper on the trip to Yellowstone, and Mom had to cook, help set up camp every night, clean up and probably didn’t have too much fun. We kids really enjoyed family vacations so much that we decided to do so as adults. We had to stop them when Mom had her stroke, but family vacations will always be a special memory in our lives and we plan to continue the tradition when we can again.  

Because of Mom, Christmas has always been a favorite family holiday. Mom made the Christmas Polish “Vigilia” a special tradition in the family. It was always fun to help make the potato soup, perogies, and dinner. We treasure the tradition of the breaking of the opoteck and the wine toast before we eat. It was always fun to help Mom make the dozens of cookies that she would bake each year. Mom was always worried that we kids had enough presents. Even when she thought that she was done buying, she would buy more – just in case. Our stockings were filled every year without fail. Mom would continue to make sure that we got plenty of gifts even when we were adults.

She also made other holidays special for us. How many 45 year olds would still got an Easter basket, Valentine’s and Halloween candy and cards? We did.   

Eleanore was one of the first group of women permitted to enlist in the military after Pearl Harbor. She served as a WAVE in the US Navy, packing parachutes, which was lucky for us – for that is where she met her Eddie and our Dad who were married for 60 years this past November.  She enjoyed working for 30 years as a civilian secretary and office manager for an engineering group in the Air Force. When we called Mom at work, she would cheerfully answer the phone “Missiles Branch, Mrs. Dombrowski.” Eddie retired from the base and Mom followed a few years later. They then followed their dream and retired to Florida, where they lived for about 16 years.  

Mom was one of the most organized people that you could ever meet. She had the most detailed records imaginable. When Mom took over Aunt Jay’s finances, the bookkeeping would make an accountant proud. Ask to see our family record book. We almost knew when we had every boo – boo. She had lists and lists which made it fairly easy to follow her directions. She even had a list in her cabinet of the food preferences of her frequent visitors.