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Francis Lavelle Jr.
1927 - 2013
Francis Lavelle Jr.
1927 - 2013
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Francis Lavelle Obituary
To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.
September 15, 2013
With deep sympathy for you, Mary Ellen, and love.
Janet Umhau
Carol Lavelle
August 20, 2013
On the wall of the Carmelite monastery in Tallow, County Wicklow, Ireland:
Death is nothing at all - I have only slipped away into the next room. Whatever we were to each other, that we are still. Call me by my old, familiar name, speak to me in the easy way you always used. Laugh as we always laughed together. Play, smile, think of me, pray for me. Let my name be the household word that it always was. Let it be spoken without effort. Life means all that it ever meant. It is the same as it always was: there is absolutely unbroken continuity. Why should I be out of your mind because I am out of your sight? I am but waiting for you, for an interval, somewhere near, just around the corner. All is well. Nothing is past, nothing is lost. One brief moment and all will be as it was before - only better, infinitely happier and forever - we will all be one together with Christ.
Carol Lavelle
August 20, 2013
Aloha Dad,
I'll be missing you, especially having someone like you to go to for good advice! I hope you're having fun up in heaven, surrounded by family and friends.
Until we meet again, lots of love from your Carol
August 5, 2013
My dear husband Frank Lavelle was just a 6-year-old lad when his father, a Boston attorney, died of cancer at age 48. The quiet and gentle manner of Frank as a grown man was probably the outcome of growing up in the midst of intellectual and kind-hearted women like his mother and like the Sisters of Charity throughout his schooling at St. Joseph's Academy in Wellesley Hills MA. His sister Shirley, caring and family-centered, married Paul Fichtner and became the loving mother of 7 children. Throughout her life she gave her time selflessly to charity and church functions. Frank's sister Marcia, the brilliant recipient of a scholarship to Wellesley College, chose instead to seek a career with AT&T to help support her mother. Then she married Bill Everett and became the devoted mother of 3 children. Frank's brother Tom, younger by 6 years, was also a source of pride in the family as he graduated from Boston College, married the beautiful Ann Anglin, became a Navy pilot, and served as deck captain of an aircraft carrier deployed in the Bay of Tonkin during the Vietnam War.
From the first days of our marriage, Frank's generosity was apparent to me. An outstanding example occurred in the 1970's when my father became very ill and the growing crisis terrified my mother. Frank responded by offering a rescue, inviting my parents to leave Boston and come live with us in Glencoe, a village on the shore of Lake Michigan 20 miles north of Chicago. We had 4 chilren, 2 cats and a dog, but we had just built a large addition onto our house. We quickly remodeled an area for my parents and they gratefully accepted our invitation. Within a year my Dad died but my mother rallied and lived with us another 10 years. Always when Frank would return home from work, he'd fix a cocktail and sit down with my mother to ask, "So, Gramma, tell me, how did your day go today?" You can imagine how quickly she became President of Frank's fan club. A scholar and a gentleman, she would say of him. A loyal husband and father, I would add.
After Frank's retirement, we used to play bridge with a wonderful group of friends at the Argyle Country Club. Terry Takahashi was often one of our challengers who, at the card table, took no prisoners and on the other hand was a lovely man to know socially. Once when Frank had left the table to have a cigarette out on the veranda, Terry looked at Frank, turned to me, and whispered, "Quiet elegance!"
In 2012 we traveled to Boston to attend Frank's 60th reunion at Harvard College. Most of his 1950 classmates had submitted a short composition for publication in their Reunion booklet. The following was Frank's contribution:
"From the retrospective of my 60th reunion, I can look back over my life's good fortune and feel gratitude for the strong values of loving parents, for the indelible guiding influence of the Jesuits in high school, for the two years of service in the Army Air Corps at the end of WWII with its exposure to other young men from vastly different backgrounds and ambitions, for my marriage for over 50 years to the same gal who chooses year after year to see not my warts but rather all those things that make me feel good about myself, and last but not least for the great blessing of 4 loving children, handsome and talented.
"Certainly the profound influence of the Harvard experience in my life is also evident to me. Back in the late 1940's, it was an enormous gift from Harvard College to have admitted so many young veterans who came armed, as I was, with the G.I.Bill. The stellar education I received there prepared me to earn a scholarship to its law school. After graduation, I served for several years on the U. S. Treasury's tax legislative advisory staff. Then with a growing family to support, I was lured to private practice and had the good fortune to become a partner with the fine Chicago law firm of Mayer Brown.
"My professional career and my private life were both deeply enriched by the Boston College High School Jesuits and the Harvard experiences, giving a sense of personal courage and abiding confidence in the pursuit of truth."
Darling, I will miss you terribly. Your loving wife, Mary Ellen.
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Francis Carl Fichtner
August 3, 2013
To my Aunt Mary Ellen, Michael, Carol, Jay, Susan, my Sincerest Heart felt Condolences to you all on the passing of Uncle Frank. He will be Deeply missed by us all. Uncle Frank will Forever Remain I My Prayers.
Love,
Francis Carl, Roberta, Erin Fichtner
August 1, 2013
Dear Aunt Mary Ellen,
My heartfelt condolences to you, Michael, Carol, Jay and Susan on the death of Uncle Frank. Thinking of you all at this most difficult time.
Love, Cathy F
Jim Stanhaus
July 30, 2013
My thoughts and prayers are with the entire Lavelle family. I enjoyed working with Frank at Mayer Brown in the past.
July 30, 2013
Dear Mary Ellen and family,
It was saddening to learn of Frank's death but wonderful to hear of his sparkling career. I wish I had known him better when you were at Sacred Heart. What a handsome dude!
Fondly from an old choir friend, Peggy Fasano
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