Mother of Father Douglas Lauer remembered as sweet, kind, friendly and always with a smile

Laura Keener

Editor

Patricia Ann Lauer (nee: Eilers), 86, mother of Father Douglas Lauer, peacefully passed away Oct. 2. She lived her life as a loving wife, mother, sister, grandmother, aunt and friend.

Born on Dec. 22, 1938, in Covington, Ky., Pat embodied a kind and loving spirit that touched many lives.

In an interview, Oct. 14, Father Lauer said that the four adjectives that he has repeatedly heard about his mom since her death are that she was sweet, kind, friendly and always smiled.

“That sort of encapsulates a lot of who she was, for people who only knew her for a short time, or people who knew her 60-plus years,” Father Lauer said.

Mrs. Lauer worked many years for Holy Spirit (formerly St. Stephen) Catholic parish and school in Newport as librarian, secretary and bookkeeper. She was a faithful member of Holy Spirit Parish, Holy Spirit Altar Society, Holy Spirit Social Club and the Fraternal Order of Eagles, Ladies Auxiliary #280.

“She tried to help as much as she could,” said Father Lauer, who was a student at the same school. “She spent much of her time in her younger years, when we were growing up, at the school. She had lots of jobs, and she enjoyed her work.”

Father Lauer said that whatever advice his mother passed on to him and his siblings was communicated not by words but in deeds.

“She always worked hard; she didn’t float around from one thing to another. I think just by the way she lived we learned. She was kind and I think we learned kindness from her,” Father Lauer said.

Family was important to both his parents. They would regularly get together with siblings and their spouses for games. “They would go to each other’s house and loved to play Euchre,” he said.

From her friends who paid their respects at the funeral, Father Lauer learned that she was “really funny.”

“That was not a side of my mom that I necessarily knew, so it was sort of comical, in a way,” he said. “For her friends, that’s who she was. She didn’t like to be the center of attention, but somehow she was able to make her friends laugh and that’s nice.”

Mrs. Lauer is survived by her sons David (Cincinnati) and Rev. Douglas (Elsmere), her grandchildren Gary and Brittany, her siblings Joan Edgington, John, Nancy Woods, her in-laws, and many nieces, nephews and friends.

She is preceded in death by her parents Frank and Henrietta Eilers, her husband Joseph “Whitey”, siblings Frank, Earl, Catherine Vulhop, Mary Beckerich and Richard.

Mass of Christian Burial celebrated by Father William Cleves was Oct. 6 at Holy Spirit Parish with entombment at St. Stephen Cemetery, Ft. Thomas. Memorials are suggested to Holy Spirit Parish, 825 Washington Ave., Newport, KY 41071.