Eulogy
by Connie Cannon
Most of you probably know my mother best for the work she did alongside my father at the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. And she was the perfect helpmate in so many ways. She was patient and dedicated and tireless -- as you’d kind of have to be to keep up with my dad -- never sought to share the spotlight with him, only to make sure that all his needs were met so that he could shine.
But there was a lot more to her than that. She grew up in Chicago, one of ten children, three of whom are here today. She was an excellent baseball player. She was voted Miss Congeniality by her high school graduating class. I’m sure that that comes as no surprise to those of you who knew her. She was also an aspiring singer who performed -- and won -- on the national radio program: Ted Mack’s Amateur Hour, but her singing career was derailed when as a receptionist at a radio station she met a young announcer named John and fell in love.
They moved to New York and while my father was trying to make his way in radio my mother was trying to make ends meet for this new family. One day, heading home after a discouraging job interview, she was stopped on the street by a perfect stranger who claimed to be an editor at Ladies Home Journal. This stranger said that they’d been searching for someone to be the national face of the “All American Girl.”
Now, something similar probably happens every day in New York City, but in this particular case, it happened to be true. My Mom was the cover girl for Ladies Home Journal that month and her modeling career was launched.
But other things were afoot. My father only ever had one serious reservation about marrying my mother. That was when, on their first real “meet-the-parents” date, which happened to be breakfast at the Weincek’s, he discovered that my mother not only couldn’t make the poached eggs he requested -- she really couldn’t cook at all.
So in between modeling gigs, she was off to cooking school, and there she discovered the passion of a lifetime. No need for me to describe the rest of her culinary career, or the fabulous ten-course meals she’d prepare in a kitchen the size of an average Manhattan closet. Those meals, and the parties my parents threw over the years, are legendary.
After a bit, my brother and I came along, and my mother added to her repertoire of activities. She did the standard mom thing of ferrying us back and forth to schools and ballet classes and Little League, arranging sleepover parties, soothing fevers, and giving comforting backrubs. She did it all while working -- not as usual in those days as it is today. And, in her “spare time”, she got involved with the Parent’s League of New York, eventually rising to become president of that organization. Oh, yeah, and did I mention that she took us to Europe every summer? And traveled on her own to places like Russia and Italy and Morocco while we were in camp in Switzerland. Amazing woman!
A while later, my father’s career hit a bit of a bump in the road. The TV academy, which had just elected him president, became ensconced in a legal battle, funds were frozen so he couldn’t pay his staff. Mom to the rescue. She joined his staff. In fact, she was his staff. Unpaid. Un-thanked, except by him, but happy to be there by his side. Eventually the legal issues were resolved but by that time he and the Academy had become so reliant on her efforts and her presence that there was no question but that she would remain.
And they continued to work side by side until his death in June of 2001.
We’d received news of her illness about a year before that, though at my Mom’s request we kept it private. And it has occurred to me to wonder if on some level, my dad died because he just couldn’t bear the thought of going on without Trudy. His death devastated her, but she got through it with the same spirit and determination and good cheer that she’s displayed all her life. Throughout all, the long hours of work, the tragedies we all go through in life, his death, her illness, I never heard her complain once.
She was a perfect wife, a cherished sister, a dedicated worker, a fabulous chef, a dear sweet friend to so many people. And the most wonderful, loving Mom in the world. I’m going to miss her.
