May Farley Obituary

Tomorrow is my mother's 80th birthday and soon she will be gone 1 year. I miss my mother everyday, especially Saturdays..our bumming around days.
My mom would be out front at Occupy Chicago rallies and may have even been graciously arrested a few times. She would have died again, listening to the republican debates. She would be devastated by Rod Blagojevich's temporary 14 year sentence for talking on the phone. In August, she will become a great-grandmother. I have nobody left to say "Remember when?" with. But life goes on and you simply have to live until you die.

My mom would be so happy today.

TO ALL THE PEOPLE WHO KNEW MAY FARLEY
WE SAY MAY SHE REST IN PEACE AND ALWAYS
BE REMEMBERED BY THE ANIMAL LOVERS OF THE
WORLD

I love the Farley Family. Time passes to quickly and May, the great woman who accepted me into her family, was loved and admired by her former son-in-law. Her memory will live on in my heart forever.

Thanks to May, I've realized my potential. Bottom line... We are all retired greyhounds. And as Peggy Lee sang. "Is that all there is?"

No words of wit or wisdom can remove the pain and sorrow of losing a loved one. Many thought's and prayers to you Mother May, You and Your Family.
God Bless
Dean-o & Jeannie

Patty, You have my deepest sympathy and a prayer that our Lord will take you into his bosom and give you strength, support, and the faith to endure the loss of a loving mother. May God Bless Your Family, I never met , but heard so many great stories you shared of her!

May Farley was, simply put, the best.
I never remember my mother weighing 100lbs, yet, she claimed that she was a 10 pound baby. Since she was born during the previous Depression, her family was so poor that her mother was forced to deliver her at home on the kitchen table. My mom often quipped that had her mother known she was going to have a 10 lb baby, she would have delivered her at home on the DINING ROOM table.
My mother was my best friend, as we shared the same sense of humor, political beliefs, and loyal friends. She maintained her philosophy of modern medicine ("Cure the disease, kill the patient") right up to the end. And to prove that she kept her sense of humor, she declared "May Day" 48 hrs before she died of everything except what she had gone into the hospital for.
She admitted to being in the gray about life after death, but assured me that if she does come back, it will be in the form of a Tarantula that finds it way into the beds of Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney.
While at the cemetery,there was a question as to which side of the grave that her head should be placed. I couldn't help but to think that if my mother were listening, she would have said, "Who cares? I'll be turning over in my grave often."
I miss my mother so. I suppose that I should be grateful that I had a mother for 79 years, as many people are not as fortunate. And for that, I remain truly blessed and grateful.
Well done, Mom.

My deepest sympathy to Patty and her family I love Patty for her being who she is....She is a very good mother and daughter.and friend.and she was married to my son many years ago but she will always be patty and I went out to eat several times and had good chats and with may her mother will be missed...Love You Patty ,Betty Hanegan

I didn't know May Farley but have fallen in love with her through this obituary. A fellow greenie in California, I hope I leave with as much style and spirit.

i met patty and may a short time ago but felt an immediate connection to two beautiful women who were warm and endearing. patty was blessed with her mother as a best friend and they laughed and talked with a special love you could feel when in their presence. i feel blessed i met them and hope that patty will come thru this okay. i know she has the support of her family and friends. until we meet again! tootaloo phyllis

My mother was a gifted storyteller with a wickedly wonderful sense of humor. When she was working for the phone company, she often came home with a long, convoluted shaggy dog story that had a punch line so unexpected and perfect that the joke stayed with me forever. During my teaching days, my students asked me to repeat some of these jokes over and over. Many of the skills I used in teaching, writing, and public speaking I owe to her.

Sometimes at night when the other kids were all asleep, I’d creep down the stairs and watch “The Loretta Young Theater” through the spindles on the banister. Many times when she noticed me, my mother would let me sit on the sofa with her. Watching these wonderful stories fed my imagination and shaped some of my warmest memories of my mother.

I had a habit of singing or humming virtually constantly. I’m sure it could be irritating, but I can’t remember my mother ever telling me to shut up. When I fell in love with a particular record, she’d let me play it over and over on the record player without ever complaining. We didn’t have a recording of Lloyd Price’s “Personality,” but for some unfathomable reason, I loved that song. Every time it played on the radio my mother called me into the kitchen to hear it.

We often packed into the car (one mother and 5 kids squeezed into a Volkswagen bug does constitute packing!) and went to my Aunt Ruthie or Aunt Joanie’s house. Whether it was Dean Martin or Elvis playing in the background, we got to play with our cousins while the grownups talked and laughed. More rarely but just as wonderfully, we’d head to Bertie’s or Marilyn’s, or to Robinson Woods in the Chicago Forest Preserves, for a big family picnic. All my mom’s sisters and brothers and our cousins came for a family picnic at our house when Freddie and Frank were on leave during their time in the Marines. My dad made barbecued chicken and corn on the cob from his backyard garden and we all ate at the picnic table. It was a wonderful day, sunny in every sense of the word.

My mom once took a Greyhound bus to visit me during Mom’s Weekend at the University of Illinois, sleeping in the dorm with my little circle of friends (the “Fourple”). I didn’t have a camera, but I’ll always remember that weekend and how proud I was to have her there.

The morning after my Grandpa Farley died (Father’s Day, 1970), we had already promised to go to Marilyn’s for a big family picnic. This was a very hard day for my dad, but my mother and her whole family were all so gentle with him that it ended up being a lovely day despite the darkness weighing on our hearts. This gathering was, for me, the epitome of family closeness.

A long and clear memory is a curse as well as a blessing. A lifetime of memories always includes dark as well as light, and some relationships become damaged beyond repair, leaving shrapnel that can never be excised. But I will treasure every one of these memories of May Farley as long as I live.

To our dear Patty and your family:

We are truly sorry for the loss of your beloved mother, May.

Our thoughts and prayers are with you.

Sincerely, Your Monty's Family and Friends

Our deepest sympathy to the family. Prayers for you and the family.

Our condolences go out to the entire family. May the God of all comfort give you the strength to cope with the loss of your beloved May. (2 Cor. 1:3,4)

Without fail, May always brought a smile to my face. She will be missed.

Sorry to hear of May's passing. She will be missed by her Fitz's Pub friends.
-Autumn
Fitz's Pub

Farewell, May. You will be missed. Sincerely, Mary Jane and Bill Davis

I am sorry to hear of your loss. I regret I did not know her. She sounds like quite a lady. My sympathy to Jim & Joann and family.

With our deepest sympathy to Jim and Joann.
Sincerly,
Julian Electric