Dearest Friends and Family:

On behalf of the Cattron, Julian and Hernandez families we want to thank you deeply for the awe inspiring outpouring of your love, condolences and support in the loss of our beloved Renee. We were touched to the deepest of our heavy hearts as we saw streams and streams of our loved ones come pay their respects the afternoon and evening of Renee’s wake. There are no words to express our amazement at the number of loved ones who continued to pour in, telling stories of how Renee has touched their lives in immeasurable, inspiring ways. In true honor of her spirit, we both cried and laughed recalling all of the memories! We are truly grateful to God for all of you who took the time to share with us your memories, admiration and hopes for Renee and us.  It brought us great comfort to see all of your faces.

And then to arrive at our church St. Mark’s the next morning and feel the continued love and support in your prayers, helped us to begin this long road of healing.  As I prayed that day in the recession of the funeral mass, I felt quite clearly and strongly God speak to my heart to assure me that her hard work is done and that he has her in the palm of his healing hand. That we all did as much as we could for her here in this temporary place but that he’s taking over where we left off and she’s finally okay. It gave me great comfort, and quite frankly brought me to tears of joy to truly know that she is with Him.

I encourage all of you to continue to post your memories, stories and your feelings and thoughts to this site. You can do so anonymously or provide your name but either way, know that it was of great importance to Renee in her healing journey to read your posts, now is so helpful in our healing journey and I’m certain will play a large role in Carter and Evan’s lives as they grow to know Renee through us all.

Below are the words of remembrance that I shared at the funeral mass which some of you asked me to pass along here:

Believe

What is it to believe? To truly believe?

Our beloved Renee knows what it is to believe.

She believed in God’s healing mercy, despite what she was told by doctors.

She believed that despite the difficulty and uncertainty in life that God is good and this life on earth is a blessing.

She believed in all of you to lift her up, support her, cheer her on and repeatedly share stories of survival.

But I also believe that her life shall not be defined by the struggle that she endured in the last year but instead ….

I believe that she will be remembered by her trusted and growing faith:

the gift our mother and father and their love of God was beautiful to witness in Renee.

I believe that she will be remembered by Her love for her husband Matthew:

among her last words was her faint whisper of a voice of ‘I love you.’ 

I believe that she will be remembered by Her devotion to her baby sons:

the simple gifts of her sing songy rhymes and making cookies and loving and holding them close. Her sweet lullaby that she sang to the boys seems fitting for Renee’s passing: “Good Night World, I love you but I’m tired now. Good Night World, I’ll see you in the morning time.”

I believe that she will be remembered by Her tenacity and persistence:

Renee is the driving force in our family and always challenged us, even if it got you out of your comfort zone – maybe especially if it got you out of your comfort zone.

I believe that she will be remembered by Her humor: if you quiet your mind and listen, I bet you can still hear her hardy and infectious laugh. 

Many of you know that Renee ensured Matt that she would do the same he did for her during her healing journey, but that she just wouldn’t bother reading any of the directions.

Finally, I believe we all miss Renee deeply, that she was taken from us far too soon.

But ….. I also believe that her spirit lives on within each of us in all of the priceless memories we have of her and

I believe that she was granted her prayer to be finally, completely and perfectly healed by our Lord Jesus Christ.

Believe.