Eileen M Lynch

June 2, 1929 – November 12, 2024

Eileen was born to Wayne H. Moore and Harriet (nee Drew) Moore in Chicago, IL on June 2, 1929. She was the only daughter of “Gam” and “Gomper” and little sister to her brother Jim whom she adored. Her happiest childhood memories, of which she frequently recalled, were those spent in her family’s Morgan Park home on W. 110th St. She attended high school at Academy of Our Lady of Longwood in Chicago, IL. She attended Marymount College in Los Angeles, CA and returned to Chicago to complete her four-year degree at Loyola University, graduating in 1951. After graduation, she worked at the Chicago Tribune while attending evening law school classes. Her vocation to law was not meant to be as it was during this period she met our dad, John “Jack” Lynch M.D. They were engaged two weeks after their first date and were married on April 18, 1953. What followed was a procession of children introduced every two or so years. In all, Eileen bore eight children: John, James, Mary (Terry), Matthew (Bonnie), Peter (Gabby), Robert, Madeleine (Randy) and Philip (Elena). For whatever reason but one borne out of their mutual affinity for “the West,” our parents left their Chicago roots and moved to Kalispell, Montana in 1979. Our dad died from a heart attack a mere fourteen months after the move in 1980. Widowed with three school aged children still at home, Eileen chose to remain in the Flathead Valley where her three youngest children were happily ensconced. Eileen wasted no time exploring her passions including sailing on Flathead Lake, skiing at Big Mountain and taking classes at the University of Montana. Her independence knew no bounds. As her youngest children grew and left home, Eileen relocated to Seattle in 1992 to be closer to some of her children who had settled there. The following years were punctuated by frequent solo travels to Europe including two separate, months long language studies in Florence, Italy. Eileen’s passions (her “Top 5” to use a secular parlance) were her faith, family, Italy, St. Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI. Eileen was a voracious reader with a spectacular gift of recall. Her interests were mainly focused on Church history and doctrine, apologetics, Italian history and travel and the Oxford Movement. She was a parishioner at Sacred Heart of Jesus in Seattle, WA. Eileen experienced great comfort and solace in the prayer afforded to her in what Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger termed “the great prayer of the Church” – the Liturgy. Her last nine years were spent at Bayview Manor on lower Queen Anne where she received the most generous care for her declining heath. She loved visits from her children and grandchildren during this time. She was especially touched by regular visits from her son Robert who dutifully relayed to his siblings in real time the highlights of these visits with “Mother.” Her family is deeply appreciative of the gentle care she received from Bayview’s nursing staff and aides and the kitchen team who prepared the meals she enjoyed immensely. We are also deeply grateful for the Providence Hospice care team in her final months which embodied the dignity of life each of us is owed. She was predeceased by her husband, parents and brother. In addition to her eight children, seven grandchildren survive Eileen: Dominic, Gabriel, Juliana, Ryan, Eamon, Emma and Lucia and numerous nieces and nephews. A Requiem Mass will be held at 10:00 AM on December 12, 2024, at Sacred Heart of Jesus in Seattle, WA. Final interment will be in Chicago, IL in early 2025. Well done good and faithful servant.