Bishop Daniel Felton: Thank you for the love, prayers, and support after my Mom’s death

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, 

Greetings to you in the healing, hope, and joy of Jesus! 

Bishop Daniel Felton Believe in the Good News

Since I last wrote to you, my Mom passed away. After a fall, there were multiple medical complications. At the age of 88, she died very peacefully on Sunday, June 11, 2023. 

My sisters and I would like to thank you for the outpouring of love, prayers, and support that we have received in recent days. As we all know, it is very difficult to lose a parent, no matter their age. 

One of the regrets that I have is that Mom was never well enough to make the trip to Duluth. Had she been able to visit me here in the Diocese of Duluth, you would have come to know her as a loving, fun, and talkative person. In fact, that is the charism that God gave to my Mom to fulfill God’s purpose and mission for her in life: She was a “master conversationalist.” Mom could strike up a conversation with anyone, and she did! 

Mom embodied the art of conversation, an art that is quickly falling to the wayside in our digital driven world. It was more than merely being talkative. In a very personal way, with a story or two, she would put the person in front of her at ease. She would then inquire about their person and life. The person in front of her, now at ease, would find it easy to share their stories, and hence a conversation would begin and a relationship would be formed. 

As a consequence, conversations were at the heart and core of my Mom’s relationship to her friends, family, and faith.

Bishop Daniel Felton preaches at a memorial Mass offered for his mother, Carol Felton, at St. Mary Star of the Sea in Duluth June 27. (Deacon Kyle Eller / The Northern Cross)

My Mom had many circles of friends: her bowling friends (she was a scratch bowler), exercise friends, card playing friends, and high school friends, to name a few of those circles. I cannot even begin to imagine the thousands of conversations that she initiated with her friends over the span of 88 years. It brought her such joy to love and laugh her way through the relationships formed by every one of those friendship conversations. 

Mom loved her immediate and extended family deeply. With relatives living from the East Coast to the West and the north to the south, Mom, in person or by telephone, often visited with her extended family. It was through those conversations that her family stayed connected to one another. Along with my sisters, there were many a conversation had over the years. Through the years, there would be many sharings among the siblings that referred to some loving and humorous thing that Mom had said in a recent conversation. It is interesting to note that all of Mom’s children went into professions that require good conversational skills. She taught us well. 

And then there is my Mom’s relationship to my dad. Having met in junior high school, dating through high school, they were married in May of 1954, at the young ages of 19 and 20. Through their years of marriage, they raised a family, managed a business, and had lots of conversations in “good times and in bad, and in sickness and health.” On the occasion of their 66th wedding anniversary, my Dad wrote this note to my Mom: 

“Dear Carol, We are in this together all the way. What a great story we have left behind. I am so happy to have you for the rest of my life. I can’t imagine spending my life with anyone but you. I love you, Ken.” 

And finally, along with family and friends, my Mom’s faith was very important to her. She was very active in our home parish of St. Edward in Mackville, Wis. In later years, Mom would often make reference to the people she was praying for or intentions that were in her heart as she prayed the rosary before falling asleep at night. Again, the thousands of conversations she had with God in those prayerful moments are a source of inspiration to me. 

She had a very special relationship with St. Therese of Lisieux. This relationship goes all the way back to her early childhood. When my Grandma needed to go out and work in her garden or in the farm fields, she would place a statue of St. Therese in my Mom’s crib to protect her. It is not by chance that the first-born daughter is named Therese. 

My family finds great consolation in our deepest belief as Christians — that in the face of death, through the mercy and love of Jesus Christ, we are raised to everlasting life and hopefully gathered into an eternal life in heaven. I would invite you to pray for the repose of my mom’s soul, that at this very moment she may be carrying on a loving conversation with Jesus, my Dad, and St. Therese. 

Eternal rest grant unto her, O Lord. May she rest in peace. May her soul and all the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. 

Amen 

Bishop Daniel Felton is the tenth bishop of Duluth.