Steve Gervais (RIP)

For John, BLUF:  Father Sannella, and five other Priests, did his friend Steve Gervais proud.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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I just returned from the Funeral Mass for Steve Gervais, whose obituary can be found here.  That is the place to find a snapshot of his life, since there was no eulogy at his Funeral Mass.  At his request.  And his Sons did what he told them.

I served with Steve as a counter of money at Immaculate Conception Parish.  He was a quiet, reserved and funny guy.  He did what needed to be done and did it cheerfully.  An inspiration.

I was away on a Retreat when Steve passed away and didn't find out about his death until about 1430 yesterday.  We missed the wake, but he was well waked.  One friend said he got there about 4:15 PM and was in the line for two hours.  My neighbor and fellow counter of money went after work and was in line for one and a half hours.  A tribute.

Under the category, God works in mysterious ways, I arrived at the Funeral Mass via Fayette Street, intending to drop off my Wife and then find some parking space, somewhere.  As I stopped to let Martha off, and as she was instructing me on where to go to find a parking space, I realized there was a spot to my left that was open.  With Martha out of the car I parked it.  I admit I thought of it as a small miracle.  But perhaps God had a purpose.  Right there at the spot was the pay kiosk, with three people grouped around it, trying to make it work.  One was a little lady of Social Security Age, who had already put in a dollar and gotten a ticket, good until 11:38 (not nearly long enough).  She thought that if she bought one more dollar ticket she would be OK.  I explained to her how the cow ate the cabbage and she put in first one dollar and then her second.  And the second wouldn't take, several times.  I took her dollar and turned it around and put it in and it took, and she was on her way after hitting the Green Button one more time and getting her ticket.  One of the men standing there then put in his parking space number and first one dollar and then a second.  His first took and the second would not.  After he made several tries I put in one of my dollars, and it worked.  He hit the Green Button, got his ticket and was on his way.  I put in my spot number and put in two dollar bills, waited, gave up and hit the Green Button and got my ticket.

My mitzvah for the day.

By the way, the machine, which had no ID on it, did not automatically dispense tickets at the two dollar point, as kiosks down town tend to do.  I would therefore judge it broken.

God Rest You, Steve.

Regards  —  Cliff