Virginia Ann Bechter

Ann Bechter, deeply loved by her family and friends, passed away August 11, 2016. She was preceded in death by her husband of 60 years, Jerry, and her daughter, Teresa. She is survived by her daughter Brenda (Kevin) Sabo, son Don (Cara) Bechter, grandchildren Don (Zhao Qin) Conway, Megan (Michael) Medina, Callan, Ben and Riley Bechter and great-grandchildren Lydia Curtis, Maria Medina and Chris Conway. Ann's life revolved around her strong Catholic faith, devotion to her family and bridge with her friends. She will be remembered by her children as the best mom in the world. Funeral Mass will be held Thursday, August 18, 2016, 11:00 am, Christ the King Catholic Church, 830 Elm Street, Denver, CO. Donations may be made to Catholic Charities Samaritan House, 2301 Lawrence Street, Denver, CO 80205. Please share memories of Ann and condolences with her family in the Guestbook. __________ Remembrances by Don Bechter 8/18/16 I would like to thank everyone for coming today to celebrate the life of our Mom. It really means a lot to our family. I also want to thank my sister Brenda. Not only for that beautiful eulogy and being a great sister but for all that she has done for my Mom and Dad over the last few years. She and her husband Kevin have literally put their life's plans on hold so that Brenda could be here for my Mom and Dad in their last years. I don't know what my parents and I would have done without her. Thank you. Those of you who knew my Mom know what a one-of-a-kind, special person that she was. She was the best Mom in the world. As hard as it is to lose her, I know she is exactly where she wants to be. There were a lot of aspects to her life but three things stick out to me: 1) her love of the game of Bridge, 2) her strong Catholic Faith, and 3) her qualities as a person and as a mother. Mom played a lot of Bridge. She was part of a Bridge circle, a group of her best friends, for over 50 years. Many of them are sitting here today. She always wanted me to learn to play Bridge and about 5 years ago I finally promised her I would. Now I know she won't forget my promise so I need to make a point to do that! Until her stroke a couple of weeks ago, she still played almost every day in her assisted living facility. Since I can remember, it seemed that she always had Bridge ""winnings"", as she called them, that she would give to us when we were young kids and then in later years to her grandkids. It wasn't a lot of money, a dollar here, two dollars there, some change, but it seemed she always had these winnings. At one point, I said, ""Mom, do you ever lose? And if you are winning so often, you really need to find a game with higher stakes"". She just laughed. I'm pretty sure she liked playing with the group she had. Mom had stronger Faith than anyone I have ever known. She prayed A LOT! And she prayed for a lot of people. If someone needed something or somebody prayed for, Mom was the person to see. I don't know how she had time in the day to pray for all the people and things she prayed for. To someone observing from the outside it might appear that her prayers were not always answered. For as much as she prayed, she lost both her parents at very young age. She lost her younger sister who was also her best friend to cancer when our Aunt Lou was in her mid-fifties. She then suffered a parent's worst nightmare when she lost her daughter, our sister Terri, at Terri's age 44. She also lost her older sister and finally her husband of 60 years less than two years ago. During all that time she continued to pray, knowing that God answered in ways that she or the world might not fully understand. She never questioned her faith. It was God's Will, she said, or part of a higher purpose of which she was not yet aware. Christ the King, this church and school, was a very important part of her life. She attended the first mass here in the old cafeteria of the school in 1948. She attended the first mass in this building when it was brand new in 1963. She went to mass every morning in the chapel downstairs until she was physically unable to drive here. She sent my sisters and me to school here. All three of Cara and my kids also went here which delighted Mom. Father Dan, she loved you. The school and church have never been in better shape than under your leadership. Thank you for your friendship and counsel to Mom and to our family. Mom was a great person and the BEST mother. Now, she would be blushing and uncomfortable if she were here right now having to listen to people talk about her. She would want me to shut up. She was very self-effacing. One of her few shortcomings was her unwillingness to recognize or show confidence in her own qualities and abilities. When my sisters and I had grown a bit to around college age she would occasionally ask us with some concern if we thought she had been a good mother. Finding the question ridiculous and being the sarcastic young adults we were, we would say things like, ""no, you have pretty much ruined us"", or ""the scars will probably never heal"". After a few seconds she would laugh. I think she knew how we really felt. The truth is, there could not be a better mother than she was. I am so glad that I got the chance to tell her that again last week. After she died, I got a lot of wonderful notes, texts, emails and calls from friends and people that knew her. I have pulled out some of the words used to describe her in those notes: kind generous unconditional acceptance self-less she was like a 2nd mom never judging loving saintly I want to share a story with you that was told to me by one of Mom's best friends from her assisted living facility. I was sitting by Mom's hospice bed last week a couple days before she passed, when this woman came to visit. She told me about the day she arrived at the facility as a brand new resident and had her first dinner that evening with a group of women in the dining hall. The next night she went back to the table to again have dinner with those women (her new friends and neighbors) and they told her that they didn't want her to sit with them again. (When I told this story to my family, my youngest daughter Riley commented that, ""girls never grow up"".) The woman then told how my Mom was sitting at a table nearby and had seen what had happened and invited her to sit at my Mom's table. They became great friends and have had dinner together ever since. These are just a few remembrances of Mom. We will miss her terribly, but I know what she lived her life for and I know what she has wanted recently. I am so happy to know that she is now exactly where she is supposed to be. __________