Reflection at the Funeral of William V. Guerin
Saint Cecilia’s Church
Wilbraham, MA
by
Father Jonathan DeFelice, O.S.B.
President
Saint Anselm College
31 August 2007
I am here this morning to briefly offer the condolences of Bishop Joseph, Abbot Matthew and the entire Benedictine Community at Saint Anselm, and the condolences of the Board of Trustees, our faculty, staff and students of Saint Anselm College on the death of our dear Bill Guerin.

Bill’s association with Saint Anselm began as a boy when his brother, Father Peter, joined our monastic community – and that association has continued uninterrupted for half a century through his years as a student, alumnus, Trustee, and parent of a graduate; and that association will now continue in a new way as Bill, no doubt, will become our great cheerleader and support in heaven, though we all think he went ahead of us too soon.

As everyone who ever met him knows, Bill was one of those wonderful people that God puts on the earth to cheer on the rest of us; to teach all of us how to approach life, to help us see what love is about, what faith and family are about; what being a fully alive, funny, talented, enthusiastic Christian gentleman is about. To whatever he turned his attention, he brought all the qualities that endeared him to his hundreds and hundreds of friends and his companions on life’s journey.

To our College he brought not only his extraordinary generosity, but his unquestionable expertise and insight; but perhaps most important of all, a fierce loyalty and desire for success that gave all of us the motivation to work harder, to imagine more clearly what could be, and to move towards the accomplishment of our mission with greater confidence. His influence and his memory will endure for ever.

With all his success, Bill never forgot the lessons learned in his home as one of the five children of a police officer and a homemaker, parents who taught him the enormous value of family, friends and faith. Along with his siblings Bill learned from his parents how to find God through a lifetime of hard work and service to others.

With Ligia, the wife he truly adored, those lessons were taught again in his own family and home to his children and grandchildren. And he taught them not only in words, but by example – even to the end of his life when his "work," if one might call it that, was to teach us never to give up hope – to keep on until the Lord’s call is so clear that we can keep on longer.

I was told some years ago that every Christmas, when his home was filled with winter warmth, with fine food and drink, and most especially with the spirited chaos of family and festivity, Bill would say: "It can’t get much better than this." This side of heaven he was so right! Today may the Lord Jesus give him a great big "Bill Guerin hug" – and may the Lord say to him: "Bill, well done – now welcome to my home – your home – it isn’t any better than this!"