Michael Communiello
Moreau FYE
25 February 2022
Living for my Eulogy
It certainly hasn’t been easy for those that knew Allie to deal with her passing. She was born and raised in a small town in upstate New York. As the youngest of five siblings by more than eight years, Allie was a source of positivity and cheerfulness, even in her earliest years. Her sense of determination, kindness, and adventure was present throughout her childhood as she was always a favorite of her grade school teachers and friends, and was constantly up for any challenge/opportunity. At the age of 13, Allie was diagnosed with Burkitt’s Lymphoma . Her strength, courage, and positivity throughout this time serves as an inspiration to all those around her. 
	Following highschool, Allie attended the University of Notre Dame. Those that know Allie also know what a big part of her life this was. Not only was she appreciative of the opportunity to attend such an academically prestigious institution, Allie was continuously grateful for the sense of faith, community, and tradition that she was able to experience while in her time there. As she pursued her degree in computer science with a minor in engineering corporate practice, she formed a great community of friends and supporters, with whom she kept in touch for the remainder of her life. 
	Upon graduation, Allie became the first in her family to settle down on the west coast. She moved to Silicon Valley and began work at a tech startup. Her immense loyalty is very evident as she stayed at this same company for the majority of her working life. She was able to demonstrate her leadership abilities, creativity, and determination when she was promoted to the lead software engineer position. Since Allie’s father also worked as a manager for many years, she was able to witness the mutual appreciation, respect, and motivation he and his employees had for each other, so a constant goal for Allie was to be like him in this way. As Allie’s employees here today will be able to attest, much like her father, Allie was beloved by all at her workplace for her constant determination, kindness, and motivation. She was always up for a challenge, willing to help, and beyond patient with both her clients and coworkers, undoubtedly contributing to the success of her company. 
	While Allie loved her work, she loved her family even more. Aside from her 4 siblings whom she was all very close to, her husband and children were the most important people to Allie. Allie met her husband, who was also her best friend, while they were in college together and they got married quickly following their graduation. Together they had 4 children, whom Allie devoted her life to raising. Her family was the greatest source of joy in her life and she did so much to make their lives special and their days brighter.
	While there are so many things that will be missed of Allie, the most notable are undoubtedly her sense of humor and appreciation for life. She could always make anyone laugh, and did so often. She had a unique perspective on life that she could communicate in such a witty way that everyone would admire. Allie also demonstrated tremendous gratitude for the little joys in life. She was always so excited for small events: someone smiling at her on the sidewalk, having some extra time to bake for a neighbor, or even starting a new book. Allie served as a constant inspiration to those around her in both her determination and positivity, and will be inexplicably missed.
The above eulogy was written by myself, about myself, in the ways that I want to be remembered. I was inspired by several different Moreau reflections throughout the semester on what it means to have a life well lived. The first of these reflections was on the article, “Why We Need to Slow Down our Lives”. This impacted my decision to stress the importance of a work-life balance. In the article, Iyer states, “the more time I spend away from my work, the better that work will be, most often”.  Since something I value is maintaining a balance between professional and personal success, I decided to include that although I took my job very seriously and found great satisfaction in performing well, true fulfillment came from serving and spending time with my future family.
Week Two’s reflection also had great influence on the final draft on my eulogy. Much like Fr. Ted Hesburgh, I want to be remembered for my faith, kindness, courage, and the impact I have on those around me. A quote from the documentary states, “Ted was a bridge builder: among people and God, and between people.” I truly appreciated this quote as it highlights the importance of faith and the implications it has on our interactions with others. It emphasizes that not only was Fr. Hesburgh evidently very sociable and well-liked, he was also entirely dedicated to his vocation to the priesthood and shared his faith with others often. Because this was so meaningful to me, I made sure to include aspects of my own faith life in my eulogy.
Since a large part of this semester’s reflections were on major/occupation discernment, I also chose to include my plans for the remainder of my academic career, as well as my career goals following graduation. In Week Three’s discernment activity, I was asked to ponder three important questions: is this a source of joy? Are you any good at it? Is this role a genuine service to the people around you, to society at large? After reflecting on this, I have determined that a major in computer science would be most fitting for me, thus my decision to include this in my eulogy. In addition, I have also determined that the creative aspects of my personality as well as my leadership abilities would be best suited towards a career at a tech startup company where I can combine my coding talents with other skills such as business. It is also important to me that I enjoy the people I work with and that the company I work for has a mission that I am passionate about, making a smaller startup company a perfect fit. This has also influenced my addition of the engineering corporate practice minor as I feel this will allow me to be most helpful to my future employers. As the Week Four reflection states, “If you are in a major you enjoy, you will be more motivated to go to class, get better grades, and overall be happier - all of that leads to better post-graduate outcomes.” When you pick a major you love, you perform better, and it ultimately leads to a more successful outcome. Rather than focus on which majors guarantee success, fixate on what you love to do. Since this message really resonated with me, I chose to make it a big part of my eulogy.
Another aspect of my eulogy that I deemed important to include was the qualities about myself that have been appreciated by others in my life thus far. In my Week Five conversation with my father, he expressed to me that he thinks I truly value “faith, knowledge, good jokes, and sunshine” most in life. This response meant a lot to me since it does really speak to who I am: a positive person that appreciates the little things, so I felt this was important to include when thinking of how I want others to remember me. 
Another important way I want to be remembered is for how I handled my battle with cancer. My treatment process was such an important part of my life and has impacted me in so many ways, so I thought it was necessary to include. In the Week Six reflection, I was so impressed with and moved by JD Kim’s story. As a cancer survivor, I found myself relating to a lot of the same thoughts and struggles he was expressing. During my treatment process, it was so easy to focus on all the negative aspects of my life at the time. Just as JD Kim longed for the normalcy of his life prior to his accident, I also went through a long process of mourning my life pre-diagnosis. I turned to my faith, found comfort in my family, and I became so grateful for this experience that allowed me to see life in a new perspective. JD Kim’s story serves as a reminder to all of the importance of appreciating life, and I would love to have my personal story serve a similar purpose for my close friends and family.
A final point I wanted to include was the importance of my relationships with others in my life. Whether it be my family, friends, or coworkers, I have so cherished the different encounters and interactions I’ve had with others thus far. In the Week Seven reflection, the importance of this to me was illuminated through the excerpt from Fr. Greg Boyle’s book, “Tattoos on the Heart”. Despite describing an obvious alcoholic and other gang members and drug dealers, it is very apparent that Fr. Greg Boyle passes no judgment towards these people and treats them with respect and kindness. Since I would so like to be remembered for also exhibiting these qualities, I wrote about the many positive relationships I have been able to form/ hope to form in my lifetime.


Works Cited
(“Why we need to slow down our lives | (ted.com)” by Pico Iyer- Moreau FYE Week One)
(“Hesburgh Film (panopto.com)” by Jerry Barca and Christine O’Malley- Moreau FYE Week Two)
(“Three Key Questions” by Father Michael Himes - Moreau FYE Week Three)
(“Navigating Your Career Journey - Moreau First Year Experience Course | Undergraduate Career Services | University of Notre Dame” MERUELO FAMILY CENTER FOR CAREER DEVELOPMENT- Moreau FYE Week Four)
(“Week Five Discernment Conversation Activity” -conversation with Thomas Bowen- Moreau FYE Week Five)
(“Why Does God Allow Suffering? - Grotto Network” by Aria Swarr- Moreau FYE Week Six)
(“Tattoos on the Heart - Chapter 8_ Jurisdiction ” by Fr. Greg Boyle- Moreau FYE Week Seven)













Works Cited