A TRIBUTE TO MARY

It has been a while since I have sat down to write a newsletter at Christmastime. Mary and I were very busy with the move to Wisconsin some five years ago in 2016/2017. Then we were faced with remodeling our twenty-year-old Wisconsin house so that it would become the home we always wanted. We accomplished all that remodeling/repair work with the help of good contractors like Bill Palomaki and many others. Then three years ago, Mary was diagnosed with several health problems chief of which was liver cancer. We did everything we could to keep Mary moving to the future. We knew, however, that her final days were eventually going to arrive. Dying is a tough reality to face when you have so much love for one another. Mary passed away on November 7, 2021. I would like to share with you in this 2021 Piirto Family Newsletter the tribute I presented for Mary at her November 16, 2021, Funeral Mass at Saint Joseph Parish in Hobart, Wisconsin and at the luncheon event following the Memorial Mass at Saint Joachim Catholic Church in Madera, California on December 10, 2021. The tribute below contains information about Mary’s life and comments from family members, friends, and me.

Dr. Doug’s Tribute to Mary Louise Piirto

I loved Mary the first time I met her 44 years ago in April 1977 as I deposited my paycheck at Wells Fargo Bank. Since then, our love for each other has grown and matured every day, week, month, and year. Despite the challenges we faced at different times in our lives, our love grew and matured in so many perfect and pleasing ways. Loving one another and Loving God was and continues to be the motto we lived by. We have been married for 43 years and restated our vows three times. I say to Mary here “Te amo mucho mia esposa Mary Louise Piirto.” I love Mary then, now, and forever.