NEWARK – Family and friends of the late Cathy Weaver joined Bishop Koenig and residents of Marydale Retirement Village on Nov. 11 for the dedication of a memorial garden to Weaver’s memory. Weaver was the director at Marydale for six years until her death in July after a battle with lung cancer.
She had worked for various Catholic entities dating back to 1998. She was the principal at Immaculate Heart of Mary School and associate superintendent of schools before moving to Trinity Health Mid-Atlantic as an executive at Saint Francis Hospital and for Trinity Health Mid-Atlantic. She arrived at Marydale in the summer of 2020.
Marydale, operated by Catholic Ministry to the Elderly Inc. and supervised by Catholic Charities, includes 108 apartments for seniors and people with disabilities. The Cathy Weaver Memorial Garden sits next to a pavilion on the Marydale campus. Names of other deceased residents are also posted at the site.
Bishop Koenig presided at the dedication, which he said was also a consecration “to the glory of God and in loving memory of Cathy Weaver, and all who have gone before us as marked with the sign of faith.” It will be a place of peace for the living and of honor for the departed.
“It will be a sanctuary where grief can be met with grace, where sorry can be touched by the light of resurrection,” he said.
The garden will be a “living testimony” to God’s promise of eternal life for those who believe in him, Bishop Koenig said.
The bishop walked around the garden to bless it with holy water while a bagpiper played in the background. The group then moved to the community building for lunch. There, Bishop Koenig relayed a story from early in his priesthood about the deaths of two teenagers from his parish in a car accident.
His pastor told the young priest that “the reason we feel the way we feel is the love that we have” for the deceased.
“The love that has touched us are seeds that continue to blossom,” he said.
Trish Blake, Weaver’s sister, traveled from Florida with her husband, Mike, and sister and brother-in-law Meg and Mike Reller. Blake said Weaver was an avid gardener, “so the fact that Marydale dedicated a garden in her honor seems like the perfect tribute to me. I just love Cathy so much, so this is such a beautiful thing.
“She was a very special person. She did a lot of good.”
Her sister had a long record of service, Blake noted, and touched a lot of people.
“She just had such an impact on so many people, and it inspired me in my own life to try to be more impactful in a good way,” Blake said.
