Obituary of Leonore Mara Ann Doody
PLEASE SCROLL ALL THE WAY DOWN TO ACCESS THE LIVESTREAM OF THE FUNERAL MASS AT ST. ANTHONY OF PADUA.
Leonore (better known as "Lori' or ''Lenni") Mara Ann Doody--born on May 7, 1957 at Hotel Dieu Hospital in New Orleans, Louisiana--was unexpectedly called by the Members of The Blessed Trinity, on the early evening of July 25, 2022, to begin a new phase of her life.
Lori’s many friends will be saddened to know that she has left us. She passed away of natural causes after only several days of illness and only a short period of time in the Emergency Room of Memorial Hermann The Woodlands Medical Center. Providentially, she died after having received the Last Rites of the Catholic Church. As she lay dying, her much-loved cousin Stephanie Twilbeck Vedros and Stephanie's husband Lou prayed for her the Chaplet of Divine Mercy..
Mercy is compassionate love that inspires action on behalf of needy persons. Among Lori’s numerous impressive merciful deeds, those evoking the greatest admiration on the part of most people were associated with the facts that she was caregiver almost until the day of his death for her terminally ill father, Patrick James Doody of Houston and Galveston, Texas, and until the day of her own death for her surviving mother, Leonore Marie Gutierrez Doody. Lori dedicated an uncommonly large portion of her life to the comfort of her parents in matters both large and detailed.
Lori was a computer whiz. She was interested in her maternal ancestry in particular, acquiring many facts from innumerable sources. The bare facts, however, cried out for personal information. This obituary, therefore, includes a few examples intended to flesh out the bare nouns, adjectives, and adverbs for the reader who knew Lenni only as a child; for one who knew her later, as Lori; for a current or future researcher of family ancestry. Lori was in some ways a private person. Her fine attributes –such as a very attractive personality, great integrity, gentleness, and love of all creatures—should be known and emulated. Knowledge of her truly good nature should not be entombed with her bodily remains.
Lori graduated Cum Laude from the University of Texas—Austin with a B.A. in history, focusing on art history. During her entire academic career--primary through tertiary-- she garnered awards for her writing. This happy combination of knowledge and talent, plus a love of both fine art and literary composition, served her well in her position at Contemporary Arts Museum Houston. Her love of art had been nourished by visits to top European museums, when she was a small child living in Scheveningen, a suburb of The Hague, The Netherlands, and accompanying the family on various trips in the Opel station wagon.
Lori later entered the architecture master’s degree program at her alma mater, her interest in the discipline having been whetted while she was Office Manager in a prominent Houston architectural firm. She rented a small Austin home situated in a thicket at the apex of a steep hill. When, In the middle of a dark night, a hefty but—as it turned out—benign man knocked on her door, while Lori’s white standard poodle “Shawnee” stood visibly trembling in fear. Lori was her usual intrepid self. Her “visitor” was profoundly deaf and needed some help. Lori utilized her ability to sign, which she had acquired on high-school trips to an institution for the deaf and was able to assist him.
A subsequent daylight episode at the same home involved a man who left his knife at the house, when fleeing the police. Shawnee alerted Lori, who prudently escaped with her dog through a window and ran to the bottom of the hill, where a group of men were repairing the street and called 911 for police help. As she had been reconsidering the architectural career, anyway, Lori’s dad rented a U-Haul trailer, and she, her possessions, and Shawnee returned to Houston.
After her dad retired from his position as an engineering Advisor with Shell Oil Company to start an engineering consulting enterprise based in Galveston, Lori moved to the Breakers of Galveston Condominium unit to assist him in his business.
Lori’s “papal career” had several highlights. When but a five-year-old, she visited Pope St. John XXIII in a semi-private meeting in a very small atrium, shaded by a white tarpaulin, at the Popes’ s Castel Gandolfo, Italy, summer home. She met Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI at the Notre Dame of Jerusalem Center in Jerusalem, Israel, when he was still Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. And she attended one of Pope St. John Paul’s private Masses in his Vatican apartment, afterward meeting him and having a private conversation with him in his private library. Lori deemed memorable the fact that in the Pope’s chapel before Mass, as he prayed silently in the “congregation” area, he was beside her. She recalled on numerous occasions, “He was sitting right next to me, and I could have touched him”. She, of course, had shaken hands with him in their library meeting. Photographs of the latter two occasions will be on a small table in the narthex of St. Anthony church, as will a family portrait made when Lori was a year old.
While living in Houston, Texas, Lori graduated from Bellaire High School in Bellaire, Texas, after having attended Duchesne Academy of the Sacred Heart, Houston, for several years. Prior to that period, she attended the Academy of the Sacred Heart on St. Charles Avenue in New Orleans, while living in New Orleans and Harahan, Louisiana. Earlier, Lori attended the Bessie Hearn School in Harahan; first grade in Wilton, Connecticut; and kindergarten at the International School in The Hague, The Netherlands.
Beautiful both physically and spiritually, Lori, nevertheless, did not recognize or acknowledge herself as such. At the time of her death, there were only a dozen or so silver hairs among the long, dark brown filaments. And she kept her talents and rewards largely hidden. God gave her a remarkable intellect, as well. She was quite interested in foreign affairs, passing with flying colors the difficult examination that the federal government administered to prospective foreign-service employees. After passing the test, a first step for the applicant entailed having a physical exam. Lori declined; “I just wanted to see whether I could pass the original test”, she admitted. The magnitude of her victory was emphasized by the fact that, because every year so few women scored successfully, the government was later pressured into changing the types of test items in order to enable women to be more likely to score well.
Lori loved to visit worthwhile computer sites and had knowledge of an astonishing number of subjects. She especially enjoyed series in which individuals traveled to interesting and beautiful places. She had an extreme fondness for watching documentaries--and a movie--featuring pilgrims following one of the numerous routes to the shrine sheltering the tomb of St. James (a member of the Apostolic trio composed of his brother John and Peter, also). The coastal route to James’s Cathedral begins in southern France in the region in which Lori’s mom’s paternal grandmother was born and passes through the Spanish town of Ribadesella, Asturias, where Lori’s mom’s paternal grandfather was born. (The grandfather emigrated to the United States of America and was the first member of the Gutierrez family to have been been entombed in the burial place in which Lori’s remains will repose.) Lori’s longing to travel that “way” was unfulfilled, because of her faithful devotion to her elderly mom. Lori died on the Feast Day of St. James—possibly the date of the saint’s own death. One can joyfully imagine St. James’s escorting supremely happy Lori to his tomb at Santiago de Compostella.
In recent years, Lori’s penchant for trips with one of her beloved dogs to the hill country and other Texas regions was curtailed by her mom’s disabilities. Lori had acquired an impressive collection of fine DVDs (sometimes enjoyed with her by her niece Kathleen). She was interested in politics and other current events, was a graceful dancer, a lover of classical music, opera, classical Spanish guitar, and a great chef, too! She loved traveling in Europe and on cruises and had a flair for foreign languages—especially French. She knew how to think.
Lori’s delightful and expressive vocal talents would have made her in the past an attractive asset to the acclaimed Knoxville, Tennessee, band of her cousin Chris Doody.
Lovely Bambi Lynn (famed film “Oklahoma!” and TV dancer) was Lori’s teacher in Westport, Connecticut. After the curtain fell upon a Broadway performance of “I Can Get It for You Wholesale” in which ever-gracious Bambi starred, she introduced Lori to a 19-year-old member of the cast, who made her Broadway debut in the play. (The cast member was Barbra Streisand, who later became a multi-media legend.)
In New Orleans, Louisiana, Lori later studied classical dance with the Paris-trained ballerina Lelia Haller, who was associated with the New Orleans Opera House Association.
Lori’s extreme goodness extended to her animals, including two parakeets whom she rescued from the back porch of the Jamaica Beach, Galveston Island beach house. She taught them to talk; one, named “Baby Boy”, had a chronic beak problem but developed a tremendous vocabulary and was able to construct short sentences in proper word order. He sometimes spoke conversationally, as when he said of the antics of a bird on TV, “Silly bird!”. “Snowbird”, the second parakeet to join the family, was more mechanically than verbally skilled. He, for example, would neatly fold up the paper on the floor of his cage. Both birds must have possessed an ancestral raven. Or perhaps they somehow absorbed their talents from Lori, who was intuitively mechanical. She disliked reading instructions. Her deep love for these two birds inspired in her a deeper appreciation for and love of all birds.
Lori’s found Bichon Frise, “Pinkie, was her all-time-favorite dog and undoubtedly the most remarkable and not merely for the fact that she lived 19 years after Lori hound her as an adult. She earlier adopted a 7-year-old “Tucker”, who was a favorite of Lori’s nephews, and fell in love with nephew Patrick’s “Mulligan”, while caring for him after Patrick entered college. Her three surviving dogs (a Coton de Tulear “Misiu” and two Brussels Griffons, “Mister Beppe Magoo” and “Tibidi”), have been adopted by the vet breeder, her vet assistant, and Felix, who adopted Tibidi. Misiu had emigrated by jet from Poland (with her own little passport); his sire was the European champion.
Such a loving person is in turn dearly loved by those who knew her.
Lori joined in death her eldest brother Dr. Patrick (Packy”, “Pat”) Thomas Doody and her miscarried brother John “Sean-John” Joseph Doody. Her beloved grandmother Estelle Kern Gutierrez and Estelle’s children, John Gutierrez and Rosemary Gutierrez Twilbeck, also, had preceded Lori in death.
”Pat” and his surviving widow Dr. Dian Doody are the parents of Lori’s niece Kathleen Doody. Kathleen and her husband Dhia Benali are the parents of Lori’s grandniece Maya Doody.
Pat and Dian are the parents of Lori’s nephew Patrick Brian Doody. Patrick Brian and his wife “Alex” Doody are the parents of Lori’s twin grandnephew Patrick Thomas Doody II and Lori’s grandniece Samantha Doody, and of Lori’s grandniece Maeve Doody.
Lori is survived by two brothers, Dr. Michael (“Mike”) Christopher Gerard Doody and Dr. Kevin John F.X. Doody.
Michael and his wife Toni Doody are parents of Lori’s nephews Michael Christopher Doody, Ryan Cameron Doody, and Sean Colin Doody. Christopher and his wife Elizabeth Doody are the parents of Lori’s grandniece Caroline Doody and Lori’s grandnephews Hutton and Hank. Cameron and his wife Mary Hannon Doody are the parents of Lori’s grandnieces Margot and Lisle. Sean and his wife Lindsay Doody are the parents of Lori’s grandniece Kate Collins Doody and Lori’s grandnephew expected to be born in January 2023.
Kevin and his wife Dr. Kathy Doody are parents of Lori’s niece Dr. Katie Doody Jakubowski and Lori’s nephew Kevin Patrick Doody. Katie’s husband is Dr. Brandon Jakubowski.
A Funeral Mass for Lori will be celebrated on Friday, November 4, 2022, at 11:00 a.m. at beautiful St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church, 7801 Bay Branch Drive, in The Woodlands, Texas. The celebrant of the Mass will be Rev. David Huff, Parochial Vicar at St. Anthony. Lori’s beloved niece Kathleen Doody will deliver a very brief eulogy immediately prior to the Mass. The Divine Mercy Chaplet and the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Holy Rosary will be prayed, beginning at 10:15 a.m. in the church; the prayers will be led by Nancy Bergeron. Visitation with the closed casket present will begin at 10:00 a.m. in the narthex (known as the vestibule, lobby, or entrance, also) of the church.
Pallbearers will include longtime family friends Felix Serrata, Nancy Bergeron, and her husband Clark Bergeron; Dian, Kathleen, and Patrick Doody have been particularly close to Lori.
In accordance with Lori’s prior request, Lori’s body will be cremated after the Funeral Mass in The Woodlands.
A second Funeral Mass for the happy repose of Lori’s soul will be celebrated, at a future time to be arranged, in New Orleans, Louisiana. Visitation and prayers will be scheduled. Immediately following that Mass, Lori’s remains will be entombed in the Gutierrez family tomb in Metairie Cemetery. New Orleans, Louisiana, on Avenue D, between cross Avenues N and K. Section 111, Lots 38 and 39. Prior notice will appear in the New Orleans Times-Picayune newspaper. Please note that Metairie Cemetery is in New Orleans. The entrance is on Pontchartrain Boulevard, near Metairie Road, adjacent to I-10.