{"id":1755,"date":"2011-02-15T12:39:42","date_gmt":"2011-02-15T17:39:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/community\/deaconsbench\/?p=1755"},"modified":"2016-09-30T17:47:43","modified_gmt":"2016-09-30T21:47:43","slug":"aggie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2011\/02\/aggie\/","title":{"rendered":"Aggie"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

That was what they used to call her, that barely five-foot tall bundle of life and laughter, the warm and winsome wonder whom I knew better as just \u201cAunt Agnes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

She was the wife of my dad\u2019s oldest brother, Joe Kandra; that\u2019s the two of them, above, a decade or so ago, shortly before he died.\u00a0 Over the weekend, Aggie finally went home, to join him.\u00a0 She was 92.<\/p>\n

The obituaries put it plainly:<\/p>\n

Born in Taylor, Pa., Agnes was a lifelong (Trenton) area resident. She was a homemaker, a member of St. Anthony\u2019s-Our Lady of Sorrows Church, its Altar Rosary Society, and its Senior\u2019s Club.<\/p>\n

Daughter of the late George and Barbara Nagy Malosh, wife of the late Joseph J. Kandra, sister of the late George, John, Joseph, and Francis Malosh, and Anna Kippycash, Verna Kopack, Margaret Olexovitch, and Elizabeth Leshnaski, she is survived by nieces and nephews, including Barbara Lettiere of Columbus, and Marge Parrish of East Windsor, and great-nieces, and great-nephews.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That doesn\u2019t tell the whole story, of course.\u00a0 Aunt Agnes and Uncle Joe were always a familiar fixture at weddings, graduations, reunions, funerals.\u00a0 They were the ones who could always be counted on for a laugh, a joke, a smile, a warm hug.\u00a0 There\u2019s a great shot of the two of them on my wedding video, 25 years ago, gently two-stepping their way around the dance floor, as the disc jockey played some long-forgotten tune from the \u201950s. \u00a0 They enjoyed the dance of life.<\/p>\n

Uncle Joe was a lot like me \u2014 the guy who always looked for the silver lining, even in the middle of a torrential downpour.\u00a0 And like most people, he and Aunt Agnes had their share of storms.\u00a0 But they were steadfast in their faith.\u00a0 It was their umbrella.\u00a0 Uncle Joe was a devoted member of the Knights of Columbus, and the Serra Club, and the two of them were what you might call Old School Catholics.\u00a0 The Church was where they went for dances and dinners, prayers and pot luck suppers, for decade after decade.\u00a0 It was woven into the fabric of their lives.<\/p>\n

They never had kids of their own, but they did have a large and loyal group of nieces and nephews they doted on (I was one of those).\u00a0 And it wasn\u2019t until the last years of her life that Aunt Agnes revealed to me and my sister that she had once, early in her marriage, suffered a miscarriage.\u00a0 She named the baby Barbara.\u00a0 It was a tragedy she never talked about, and most of us never even knew about, but I\u2019m sure it was never far from her mind.<\/p>\n

When I got the news that Aunt Agnes had died, and told my wife, I said, \u201cShe\u2019s back together with Uncle Joe.\u201d<\/p>\n

And my wife smiled.\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019s not the biggest news,\u201d she said.\u00a0 \u201cThe big news is that she\u2019s finally able to see her daughter again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amen.<\/p>\n

Bless you, Aggie.\u00a0 And Joe.\u00a0 And Barbara.<\/p>\n

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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