By Priscilla Greear, Staff Writer

MARIETTA—With a life spanning three centuries, including coming back to work at the age of 75 as the first parish secretary of a new archdiocesan parish, Carrie Elfner will be remembered for her exemplary Christian life, dedicated to family, church and community.

She died of congestive heart failure at 102 while sleeping in her Marietta home on Sunday, Feb. 18. Her body was cremated and the remains taken to New Jersey for burial by Dorothy Grant, 75, the only one of her three children now living, who cared for her the year before she died.

In her large Catholic family, “we all looked at her as the person we most respected and loved,” said her grandson Rick Cavallo of Marietta.

The funeral Mass was celebrated Feb. 22 at St. Joseph’s Church, Marietta, where Mrs. Elfner was a member since 1985. One of her daughters, the late Ruth Cavallo, with whom she lived for about 25 years, had served at that parish as secretary for over 30 years until her death in 1999. The Mass was celebrated by her long-time friend Father Larry Schmuhl, SM, who had served at St. Joseph’s, and concelebrated by Father Ed Thein, pastor at Holy Family Church, Marietta, and former Holy Family pastor Father Paul Fogarty, now pastor of Holy Cross Church, Atlanta. Mrs. Elfner served as parish secretary at Holy Family for over a decade.

Remarks were made by Mrs. Elfner’s great-grandson Darrell McCommon of Smyrna and Cavallo, a member of Holy Family Parish whose daughter, Caroline, is a principal dancer with the Royal Danish Ballet. Cavallo worked for 25 years for Paulist Communi-cations and his brother is the late Father Joe Cavallo, who ministered in the Atlanta Archdiocese.

Having retired at 65 after about 25 years working in the statistical department at Bamberger/Macy’s in her hometown of Newark, N.J., Mrs. Elfner moved to Atlanta in 1973 following the death of her husband of 47 years, Peter. She lived with her daughter Ruth. Holy Family’s founding pastor, the late Father John Mulroy, was looking for a parish secretary and offered Ruth Cavallo, through Father Cavallo, the job of secretary and bookkeeper. Reluctant to leave her post, she referred her mother for the position and Mrs. Elfner then went on to work full-time for 11 years.

Father Fogarty, who served as Holy Family pastor for the last two years Mrs. Elfner served there as secretary, recalled “the great mind she had” that could add and subtract instantly.

“She knew everything. She absorbed it in her mind. She had a wonderful memory for memorizing, very clear,” he said. “She enjoyed meeting and being around people . . . She wanted to use her mind, her gift that she had, to work for the church.”

Second career or not, there was no slacking off for this senior. He recalled “her dedication to her job, her faithfulness every week being on time. It was an effort for her to get to work at her age. She was in her 80s when she retired. She would show up to face work every day.”

“I never remember her being out on sick leave,” he continued, “and (I remember) her determination to keep going because it was difficult for her in the latter days of her working—because even when I got there she had a lot of difficulty getting around.” She was then using a walker.

Father Fogarty also recalled how she ran a tight financial ship as the new parish go off the ground and set sail. “People loved Carrie,” he said. “In a sense she was very businesslike, responsible. She was very conscientious about how money was spent. I suppose you’d say a good steward. She wanted to make sure money wasn’t wasted anywhere.”

Or by anyone, including family members, fondly recalled Cavallo, who was planning Holy Family youth retreats when his grandmother was working there.

“She didn’t cut me any slack. If I spent too much she let me know and she didn’t let me spend too much. She was pretty tight with the money. They were trying to build the church. Being the bookkeeper she made sure everything was accountable fiscally. You didn’t go over budget. She ran that like it was her own family budget,” he said with a chuckle.

Her grandson said her mind remained clear as a church bell right up until she was called home by the Lord. She read a romance novel a day and loved playing the card game pinochle and working crossword puzzles. He added she was a tough card-playing partner, as she could always figure out which cards he had.

“She loved cards. She taught all the grandchildren how to play cards. I can remember her teaching us. She would never let you win,” he continued. “She read up until three or four months ago . . . She was very sharp right up until the day she died. She could tell you details. She was our history resource. You could ask her something that happened in 1920 and she could tell you because she was there when they had horse and buggy and when they had cars that you had to crank in front.”

Another secret to her formula for longevity was her generosity, as she was charitable to family members as well as everyone else she met. He noted how she wrote the check for the rose window in the rear of St. Joseph’s. “She was proud of her family. She bragged about every one of us to everybody, especially lately. For the past 10 years she’s sort of been immobilized because she had arthritis. When people came to visit her you could get the whole family history from her. She was a very generous, loving person.”

She was also generous in sharing her faith. “She prayed for everybody who ever died and that became a long list because she outlived everybody. She had a long list of people she prayed for every day. She was an inspiration as far as our faith goes . . . She was born in 1898 when it was hard to be Catholic, I think, and she stayed Catholic all her life and made sure her children were raised Catholic. I think she had a very strong influence on my brother becoming a priest. She supported it very strongly,” he recalled. “She gave us our faith. She supported it over the years. She showed us by the way she lived, what her faith meant.”

Cavallo noted in her final years the joy she experienced at her 100th birthday party and in attending the 25th anniversary for Holy Family, which he had to talk her into attending because of her immobility.

“She loved (the birthday party) because relatives from New Jersey were here, relatives from Florida ... Everybody was in awe that she was 100 years old and so very much alert,” he said. “She enjoyed that event as much as she enjoyed the Holy Family anniversary. She loved that (anniversary) . . . She came back and said, ‘Thank you for taking me to that and making me go.’ I think she looked back at that time when she worked for Father Mulroy very fondly.”

Just as she labored faithfully and looked out for Holy Family’s future, so too did she prepare even in her final days for her own. “She was ready. She wasn’t afraid. I think the last three or four months she was really getting tired. She fully accepted it. I think she made her own funeral arrangements.”

Other survivors include her 97-year-old sister, Rose Camposano of Bricktown, N.J.; eight other grandchildren, including Cavallo’s sisters, Ann McCommon of Smyrna and Dr. Bette Potter of Monroe; 14 great-grandchildren and five great-great-grandchildren.

Those wishing to make a contribution in her memory may send donations to Our Lady of Perpetual Help Home, 760 Pollard Blvd., SW, Atlanta.