When I moved my family to a small suburb in April 1996, we had just finished closing on our first home and couldnt wait to get moved in. We were doing the typical cleaning and furniture moving and wondering what life would be like here. Within an hour, we heard a knock at the door. When I opened it, there stood a petite woman in her elder years with a warm smile and in her arms was a bouquet of flowers. She introduced herself as Ursala McEvoy then immediately began passing out hugs to me and my family and welcoming us as her new neighbors. That was the day we met, and from that day forward, she and her husband, Tom, have been like grandparents on loan from God.
Ursala reached out to my children in such a way that they enjoyed going to her house and visiting with her as she passed out cookies while catching up on their school activities. She told them stories of her youth, of her survival of the Holocaust, and taught them many things they couldnt learn in school.
This was a neighbor who always remembered our birthdays and sent cards and gifts to everyone, she never missed ONE birthday or Christmas. It was never expected, and always appreciated so much.
When my father came up from Dallas, she always baked him a loaf of her special bread. He ate it once and fell in love with it. She never failed to make a home delivery when she saw his car in my driveway.
She was there for me during the loss of my kid's mother, always on standby and ready to lend a hand when needed.
We trusted her completely. During a time I was separated from my family and lived at home by myself, she had a spare key to my home because I had a bad habit of locking myself out of the house. After the 2nd time I had to borrow her phone, she insisted I give her a spare key to make things easier. That key was used as much as my normal key, and there were times I had to knock on her door at 1am in the morning to get it, but no matter what the hour, she always greeted me with a smile and and a giggle at my expense. She was a neighbor unlike any I could ever hope to have.
I was completely shocked to hear of her passing on December 8th. While I totally understand and support the family right to privacy I sure would have loved to say goodbye to a very special person in my life. So this is my way of doing it and I want the world to know what a very rare Treasure this woman was, not just to me but to her community.
If loving thy neighbor has any meaning, Ursala defined it like no other.
God Bless You, Oma....you will be missed by us all.