Reat in peace dear Mom. May God keep you ever closer to His Sacred Heart. 

You who bear the name of the beloved Mother of Jesus, ever attain that higher honor with which He honours her in Heaven.  Prayers. 

Ammai, my grandmother, was not a very large person - but she had one of the biggest hearts of anyone I have known. She successfully raised 8 children, instilling her future generations with values such as kindness, piety, charity, and hard work. She even helped raise some grandchildren - after I was born, she came to the US from India to help take care of me as a small child. I remember the affectionate nicknames she would give me; “thangai” - meaning gold in Tamil - was one of my favorites.

Whenever we visited her at LSOP, I remember how she would always have delicious food prepared for my sisters and me. When I asked her how she would accomplish this without access to a kitchen, she told me that she would get all of her ingredients from the cafeteria. She would then cook everything in a small rice cooker with spices she stored from her limited shopping trips outside. 

As mentioned by others, she also was skilled at caring for plants. In India, she planted and maintained fruit trees for her children and neighbors to enjoy, and in the US, she would delicately care for the many plants at LSOP. Her green thumb has inspired me to start gardening, which has become a hobby I now enjoy.

These anecdotes epitomize Ammai for me - always giving so much regardless of what little she herself had, and always enriching whatever community she was in with her generosity and skills. She will continue to serve as an inspiration to us all.

Ammai was a caring, kind grandmother to me and my siblings. She always showered us with all her love, and I’ll miss her so much.

Over the years as I was growing up, Ammai would frequently give my sister and I hand-knit blankets, mittens, and scarves. We would love wearing and using them throughout the winter; they would warm our bodies and our hearts!

She did try to teach me to knit once when I was little, and it lasted about two weeks; it’s impressive that she was able to teach me the basic knitting pattern at my age. She had a special ability to connect with all of us, at all our different ages.

Another time, we visited her at LSOP. In her room, with just her little rice cooker, she had made the most delicious, authentic Tamil style fish curry. It still seems like magic to me. Thankfully, she’s passed down some of her cooking skills to others in our family, but her delectable dishes will be missed.

May her soul rest in peace with Jesus, the angels, and saints as company.

Mary Nathan, you will be missed . Such a prayfull, generous  and loving person. 

May your soul Rest in Peace 🙏 🪦 😌 🥰

Dear Melanie and family,

My heartfelt sympathies at the passing of your Mum. I recall meeting her when we were in college and her love for plants.

 May you find comfort in the beautiful memories you share with her.

Mary Perimma as we dearly called her used to visit us at Coimbatore during our summer holidays back in those days. She was always loving, kind, full of energy and always had positive words of encouragement to us as kids.

She'll be dearly missed. May her soul rest in Peace!

Beautiful memories of Mary my mother: 

We were parishioners of Victoria Church, Mahim before we moved to Andheri. At Victoria parish mom was a member of the Tamil Sodality and The Legion of Mary. At Victoria's , during the parish feasts, to celebrate the special day all the various groups would felicitate the parishioners with a musical event. The tamil community was preparing to put up a dance performance by the young girls for which Mary was  choreographing  the kummi-attam  (that's what the dance was called) . Coincidently, Mary  was 8 1/2 months into pregnancy.  Mom even stitched the outfits for the girls for uniformity. The show went on as planned, her group performed the  dance  at the event, and everyone applauded  her  because it was the first time the tamil community ladies were participating in the event.  Soon after her group performance was over, she  felt uneasy and knew she had to get admitted to the nursing home to deliver her little bonnie baby girl , And that little baby we called Melanie.   

Dear Rita and Robert,

We are so sorry that you have lost someone who you and your family loved so much. Her legacy lives in you and remember that you made your mother so proud. 

Posted by Adam Nathan on behalf of Joe Nathan:

My Mom was a Force - virtually unstoppable once she set her mind to something . She was extremely pious and to her, Prayer was the way to secure what was difficult. I was a very difficult child growing up, falling into bad company, and Mom would drag me with her to all the various Novenas she attended. I  am sure that it was only her prayers to Mother Mary, St Joseph, the Sacred Heart, Fr Agnel, St Anthony and other countless saints, that changed me and made me a different person. It was her prayers that guided each one of us in all that we did. She took immense pride in her children and their achievements and her grandchildren were the apple of her eyes as they grew up. Of course, her great-grandchildren were a source of immense joy to her.

I learnt the importance of thriftiness from my Mom, her dealing with vendors. She literally stretched every rupee to its extreme to ensure that each one of us was sufficiently sated.

A little known habit about my Mom, which my wife, Rosy, shared with me was how she would wake early on Wednesdays, prepare breakfast and then individually pack them and take it with her to distribute to the unfortunates who lined the street near St Michael's Church, Mahim, Mumbai, on her way to attend Mass and the Novena to our Lady of Perpetual Succour. 

Mom was a person who shared the little she had with others in need. 

All in all, my Mom's passing is literally the end of an era.