[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 58 (Thursday, May 11, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E712-E713]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         EULOGY FOR GRACE DIEHL

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. JOHN JOSEPH MOAKLEY

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 11, 2000

  Mr. MOAKLEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to a remarkable 
woman, Grace Diehl, who passed away last month. Grace was the wife of 
Leo Diehl, the former assistant and close friend of Speaker ``Tip'' 
O'Neill. I am inserting the eulogy delivered at Grace's mass by Tom 
O'Neill, the speaker's son. It is obvious in reading the eulogy that 
Grace and Leo shared a love and devotion that we all should emulate. I 
submit this eulogy not only to pay my respect to Grace and her memory, 
but to share with my colleagues a true love story.

                         Eulogy for Grace Diehl

       Good Morning to each of you . . . Father . . . Grace's 
     family and friends . . . and especially to you Leo. It is a 
     great honor and a significant responsibility . . . to offer 
     some remembrances about Grace whose long life spanned most of 
     the last century and who . . . thanks in large part to an 
     enviable but mysterios mix of great genes, determination and 
     the constant care and concern of an equally determined 
     husband . . . managed to also celebrate the dawn of this new 
     century.
       Grace's life is a remarkable saga, best told in two parts. 
     . . . The years before ``My Leo'' as she liked to call him 
     and the years with Leo, which I know she would agree were her 
     best.
       Most good stories begin at the beginning which is where I 
     should start. The problem is

[[Page E713]]

     that no one is exactly sure, in Grace's case, exactly where 
     the beginning is. A variety of educated guesses put her date 
     somewhere between 1904 and . . . 1910. And since Grace was an 
     avid believer in the old saying that ``a lady never tells her 
     age'', I will leave it to you to ``do the math''.
       In any case, we do know that Grace Shaunessy was both in 
     North Cambridge on August 1st.
       Like so many of her generation, the major markers of 
     Grace's life included two World Wars and a Great Depression. 
     But thanks to entrepenurial parents . . . her father, owned a 
     chain of variety stories and, later her mother ran a popular 
     neighborhood tavern . . .
       She was able to graduate from Cambridge High and Latin and 
     further her education at The Chandler School.
       Grace, like her parents, had a good head for business and 
     in many respects was ahead of her time. She was for many 
     years a career woman holding down positions in the foreign 
     exchange department at Jordan Marsh, working for the 
     government distributing those all-important rationed stamps . 
     . . so much a hallmark of the Depression era . . . and 
     working in the Tax Department of Cambridge City Hall.
       It was there, in Cambridge City Hall, that Leo Diehl, 
     himself a ``tax man'' met and began courting Grace Shaunessy. 
     Leo and my father were both happily employed in the Assessor' 
     Office until the Assessor decided he didn't like politicians 
     and summarily fired both of them.
       Leo and Grace began a whirlwind . . . and some would say . 
     . . over-extended courtship that lasted over ten years and 
     included trips to New York . . . properly chaperoned of 
     course by a respectable, married couple . . . my parents! I'm 
     not entirely sure what finally convinced Leo to ``pop the 
     question'' but my hunch is that it had something to do with 
     his feeling the need to settle in to a saner life after 
     helping to run my father's first and notoriously difficult 
     first race for Congress against LoPresti in 1952? In any 
     case, Grace and Leo finally married in 1953, and remarkably, 
     although they both began the married years well into mid-
     life, their marriage last for almost fifty years.
       Grace gave up her career and happily settled into a new 
     life, eventually adjusting to another contemporary twist . . 
     . a commuter marriage. She and Leo bought a house in Belmont 
     and, after a while, built their dream house, complete with a 
     newly-dredged Harbor in Harwichport. Together with their many 
     friends and neighbors . . . the McGuires, the Does, the 
     Maloneys, the Roes . . . and, finally, after a long period 
     impinging on Leo and Grace's hospitality and repeated use of 
     the spare bedroom . . . the O'Neill's finally scraped up 
     enough money to join the rest of the gang.
       Those were fun times for Grace and Leo and for my parents 
     and their friends. . . . Saturday nights at the Club, card 
     games and songfests. Grace loved a good party and was always 
     willing to endure Leo and my father's duets. She even enjoyed 
     listening to Leo's famous and often repeated rendition of 
     ``Ten Baby Fingers''. But, after a while, she drew the line 
     on ``I met a Lemon in the Garden of Love Where They Said Only 
     Peaches Grow''!
       Beside her business know-now, Grace had many other 
     interests and talents . . . gardening, painting and 
     needlework to name a few. She was always the lady with high 
     standards and excellent taste . . . beautifully dressed . . . 
     the creator of comfortable surroundings. But the center of 
     her universe was, without question, Leo. He doted on her and 
     she enjoyed being doted on. In their later years, when 
     Grace's health began to fail, Leo made sure, with 
     considerable effort, that she got to go out for a ride every 
     day. He handled her every need without complaint and with a 
     patience and devotion that is remarkable and rare. Leo, we 
     know that you have suffered a great loss and that you will 
     miss Grace. I hope that you will rely on the love and support 
     of your family and friends . . . and on the knowledge that 
     you were at Grace's side ministering to her every need until 
     the very end.
       Godspeed to you, Leo . . . and to you, Grace.

       

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