Celebration of a Life

Yesterday, we all gathered together to celebrate the life of my father-in-law, Mike Zadra, Sr. (Sully), and share our memories. It was so nice to be able to spend time with family, to honor this wonderful man, to cry, to laugh, to remember. You never know how many people will come, but the funeral home was packed. That was so nice to see. And I was so touched that many of Mikey's friends were there, co-workers of his, my brother, his wife and my niece, and my sister, her husband, and my nephew. It was no surprise that my sister would be there...but, it is such a comfort to have had my family there, too.

Maelie stayed with my mom during the service, and then we brought her to the luncheon afterwards. She was quite overwhelmed by the number of people who all knew her, but she didn't have a clue! We didn't stay too long, because of her understandable fussiness, and it was her naptime. Mike, Maelie and I all eneded up taking a much needed nap in the afternoon, and then went out to the house afterwards for more family time, food, drinks. It was good to relax and talk with everyone.

I was asked by my mother-in-law to give a eulogy for my father-in-law. I've decided to share it here, so you all can know even a little bit more about Sully. I thank you all so much for your support and love during this trying time. It has meant so much, more than I can describe.




Sully, as I will always know Mike Sr., was much more to me than the term Father in law can describe. I had known him for years before Mikey and I even started dating, having met him through my sister, Kim Grippe, when they worked at RMS together for many, many years. I would often go to visit my sister at work, and the three of us would sometimes go to lunch together, he’d tease me, kid me – memories of those early days will always be with me.

And then I started dating Mikey. I remember an early date of ours, when I went to their house, and of course, feeling nervous about meeting the ‘potential’ in-laws. When I got there, Sully was doing his usual bustling around the kitchen, pots bubbling away on the stove, cigarette hanging out of his mouth…He looked at me and asked, “So, you get a job yet?” Well, that did it…the ice was broken and I knew I didn’t have to be nervous or worry about being accepted.

Sully was like that. He accepted everyone. No matter who you were, Sully made you feel welcome, whether if it was through a joke, his toothless grin, his cooking….he made you feel comfortable. There were no pretenses with him.

Many of you know that Mikey and I adopted a baby from Vietnam this past October…Maelie. The first time we brought her to meet the grandparents, I didn’t even get a chance to get her sweater off before Grandpa Sully came over to see her. I will forever cry when I remember that moment. He took one look at her, and with tears in his eyes and a wavering voice he said, “She’s so beautiful.” I knew, right then and there, that it didn’t matter that Maelie hadn’t been born to us. She was accepted…she was a Zadra, and always would be. She was his granddaughter. And I am so glad and grateful they had the time they did together.

When Carol asked me to say a little something about Sully, I was very touched. And I wondered what I could say. Not that I was at a loss of things to say, but there’s just so much about this wonderful man, that I could go on and on. Memories flooded in like snapshots…memories that I hope to never lose, so that I can treasure them always, and pass them on to Maelie so she will forever know the kind of man her Grandpa Sully was.


- His generosity and kind heart, picking up a stray animal, all the while grumbling about it.

- The way he always, without fail, made me his famous shrimp scampi when we’d come over for dinner, because he knew I loved it. And speaking of food, we will all remember his wonderful potica.

- His fashion sense of a flannel shirt over another flannel shirt, pared with a bungy cord belt, topped off with a ball cap.

- The way he’d say, ‘Hey, Boob,’ (instead of Boo Boo), when I walked in the door…much to Carol’s chagrin.

- His wonderful woodworking projects that I will always treasure, and how, when he made them, he’d never just go buy lumber, but spend days gluing together scrap wood and lumber, like an old picnic table, packing crates. And he’d spend days sanding and gluing the boards together…planeing it…planeing it…planeing it…but he always came up with something beautiful in the end.

- How he called our dog Allegra, “Viagra,”

- The way he’d yell “CAROL,” when he’d open up the freezer and stuff would tumble out at him.

- How bedtime was always promptly at 9:00 pm, no matter who was there, or what was going on.

- And how, for me, he was always the calm harbor in the sea of chaos that is a Zadra family function (and I say that lovingly), but I could always sit by him and talk. Not always about anything important, but it was special to me. This is probably one of the biggest things I will miss about him.


Sully will always be special to me. I will sorely miss him, but I know he is now at peace, in a better place. I know that I am a better person for knowing him, and he makes me forever proud to share the name “Zadra.”