Just got this out again and decorated the house and am missing Trish/Mom. She LOVED Christmas and this holiday season will not be the same without her. Her spirit will come through in all the special things we bake using her recipes and the memories we share. Love, Brian/Jenn

Trish loved Christmas more than anyone I know. She loved to decorate her home, even putting out special Christmas plates and towels. Baking was a whole other thing: her cookies, candies and cakes were legendary. My daughter, Veronica Fabiano, especially loved her stained glass cookies and each year, Grammie would make a couple extra rolls for Veronica to keep. I think this year, we'll have to make them in her honor. The picture of the snowman cookie jar here with this story is an especially sweet memory I have of Trish. I wanted to find a snowman cookie jar for my counter. However, I did not want one with a painted on nose, I wanted a real nose that stuck out. Well, I was talking to Trish on the phone a few weeks before Christmas one year and she offered to help me find one. So, on Saturday we went out looking. Five stores later and no luck. The next weekend we went out shopping together again and we finally found one. Now, each year when I get out this cookie jar to set on my counter during the holidays, I think of Trish. I will miss you! I love you, Jennifer Fabiano (daughter-in-law)

When our mom was diagnosed with terminal stage four cancer, my sister
Donna, who is our mother's only daughter, selflessly dropped all the
responsibilities of her own family in California to come out here and
help mom with the battle for her life. She did this without blinking and
without a second thought.

Donna then did something for the following months of mom's battle that all of us in the family will be forever grateful. She slept with mom, she fed mom, she cared for mom and she personally performed a medical procedure on mom to save her life almost daily by draining the fluid from her lungs.Donna advocated with veracity anything and everything she thought would guide mom to a positive outcome. I only hope my own daughter absorbed the example of her aunt and does the same for my wife if the time ever comes.

There are always dynamic facets of anything ultimately powerful. And
Donna's love for my mom was the most powerful display of a daughter's
love for a mother I have ever seen. Unwavering and unconditional love has
proven over the test of humankind to be the most powerful thing of all.
You see, somehow Donna had the ability to NOT see the desperation and
long odds of mom's situation but instead only see the possibility of
paths for mom to escape...no matter how narrow those paths became.

Donna stepped up to care for mom in a way that none of
us as sons had the ability to do so. All of us were devastated with
empathy for our mother's plight. At times, it was heart wrenching to see our beloved mother as she came closer to the end of life here on Earth. Donna
instead returned the greatest gift to mom that our mother taught all of
us: eternal optimism that all will be well in the end and that all struggles
in the journey of life are only obstacles God provides for us all as a
test of our true spirit.

Donna, your bothers and all who knew mom thank you for your steadfast
care of mom.  We are proud of your heart and for showing the tenacity
and steadfast commitment that earmarks what Fabianos and Cabrals have stood for over the generations.

Thank you, your loving brother Brian Fabiano

It all "Begins and Ends with LOVE" Trish was our inspiration to live life with God and love one another unconditionally. Trish lived her life giving to others forsaking herself in the pursuit to bettering another. I was blessed to be part of Trish's family as her only Son-in-Law and will always remember her teachings to love everyone unconditionally!  Trish loved roses and always reminded all of us to "Stop and smell the roses."  The following poem says it best in the way Trish treated me as a son...

"Not blood of my blood nor bone of my bone, but miraculously my own. Don't ever forget that you were not born under my heart, but in my heart."
 
Love, Terry

"Et lux Perpetua Leceat Eius" (And let perpetual light shine upon her) 

   

Trish was an exceptional mother-in-law, and that's not easy to be. She was kind and loving and was there whenever we needed her. She loved our kids so much and was an involved Grammie as well. I especially loved cooking and baking with her and sharing recipes. When I was engaged to Brian, at my bridal shower, she presented me with a recipe box of all of Brian's favorite recipes, hand lettered on recipe cards. 26 years later I still have that recipe box and use it. Like all good moms, one of the ways she showed her love was by cooking and baking and caring for her family. I loved her dearly; she will forever be in my heart. (This photo is at Christmas one year when we opened our Christmas poppers and they included paper crowns.)

On the day she was diagnosed with stage four cancer, she had a performance at The Elks Club. She did not want to "ruin" everyone's fun so she decided not to tell anyone and went on to perform one of the key parts in the musical. The next day she shared her news with her cast member friends.