Maureen Pereiro

Saturday, 5/30, I said farewell, (for now) to my wonderful wife Maureen. Like many people, she faced challenges many times in her life. In the last 4 months, though, and particularly the last 30 days, she showed the strength, dignity, and courage of her favorite movie character, Rocky, from Rocky IV. A lot of people would say that someone had “lost their battle” with a particular illness. Maureen did not lose any battle, as she defied being placed into any mold, and went on her own terms. The wonderful Interim Hospice staff had told me many times that Maureen was their favorite patient, mostly because she never let the timeline guide her. They would always say “normally this would happen in so many days, but we are talking about Maureen” What they did tell me, was that a person in Maureen’s condition would have transitioned and passed weeks sooner than she did. Maureen literally had a strong heart. Every aid, nurse, and doctor who came to see her, said they have rarely, if never seen a person who did not eat or have any solid foods for that long to even be conscious, let alone have the blood pressure and heartbeat of a 20-year-old. She was a fighter all the way and only left after seeing everyone willing to come to see her smiling face and get one of her hugs, and she hugged everyone right to the last day. Her son David and Daughter Lindsay said that “No one but God could have scripted a more perfect farewell for her”
She was born in Toronto, Ontario Canada to Paul Blake and Catherine (Joyce) Nagle. They migrated to Hudson Ohio while she was in High school when her father’s company headed into America. At Hudson High School, she excelled as a student and lettered in Varsity Track. Anyone who knew Maureen would not find it hard to believe, that in her senior year at Hudson High School, she was listed in the senior superlatives in, Biggest Flirt, Happiest, Best Smile, Most Naïve and Friendliest. She was a walk-on for the Ohio University Bobcats Division I Track team, as well as earning a bachelor’s degree in marketing and management in 1984. She was the recipient of the Scott Fetzer award for writing the best essay on a sales- oriented career. She was in Delta Sigma Pi, the assistant resident director in the university’s residence life department, she belonged to the American marketing association and the residence life council.
Maureen excelled at every job she went to, but never wanted the recognition for her success. We have literally hundreds of award plaques, certificates, and letters of awards, but she never wanted them on display. She was humble in every way, but fiercely competitive when it came to landing customers. She had a very unique style to get past even the best executive phone screeners. She relied on two weapons she knew how to use very well; 1- her voice. With that sweet and soft high toned voice, she sounded very friendly and extremely young, always disarming the person she was talking to and making the person feel like they know her. This got her through to more senior-level executives (males) than anyone I have ever known. 2 – She always got to know the potential client before trying to sell them on anything. She told me that she would always try to “Build a rapport” with them before trying to discuss business. She disliked salespeople who sounded like robots and never used the scripts that were given to her. When a company tried to make her use their prepared scrips, her sales would drop. When she went freestyle, she easily would pile up the contacts and usually have her quota done well before they were due, and the companies usually just let her be “Mo” because she always produced.
She worked for several companies while we were together, but a few of the highlights. While working for a communications company selling beepers (yes beepers), she flew to Iowa and landed the Conagra account. While working for a high-end sports marketing magazine selling ads, instead of just getting the person responsible for purchasing ads for this particular organization, she managed to get a very well known racing team owner on the phone directly, and sold him several pages of ads. While working as an executive recruiter for OBGYN residents ready to graduate, she managed to convince 2 residents from the same school to relocate to the same practice across the country. While selling magazine subscriptions part-time as a telemarketer, she sold 2 subscriptions to a blind person…yup, that’s right, she sweet-talked an elderly gentleman to buy 2 gift subscriptions for relatives. She never had a rebuttal she couldn’t overcome.
Maureen loved her family and was a very kind, genuine, and generous person. She wasn’t materialistic, petty, or selfish. She loved young people and elderly people alike. She would always tell an elderly woman “how beautiful” they looked or an elderly gentleman how “handsome” they were. She always asked younger people what their “dreams and aspirations” were, and loved to listen intently on their answers, and wouldn’t take “I don’t know” as a response. She would pry out a small dream of a young person and would always tell them that they would succeed at whatever they chose to do. She would go over to a person sitting alone somewhere and ask them if they were ok. Many times they were missing someone, or they had a bad day. She always sought to brighten them up. She donated to many Christian causes and bought many meals secretly for homeless people, soldiers, or elderly people sitting at a restaurant. She firmly believed in fellowship and reaching out to people less fortunate.

Maureen’s deep Christian faith was always on display. She is what I would view as truly faithful. She praised God just as much in the storms of her life as she did with blessings and favor. As I go through her notes she wrote down for work, (she had beautiful handwriting and wrote everything on legal pads) in between contact notes and information, were small “thanks and praises to god” they weren’t always specific, but she knew what they were for. There would be “Thank you Lord for your power and grace” and “Lord, please anoint me” among many others. She was loving to all she met, she loved to dance and was a hugger! Right until the very end, she was praising God and thanking Jesus for her family and for everyone who was around her. I will definitely miss her strong language…”Jiminy Crickets!! And “Oh my Stars” to say the least.
I will indeed miss my lovely bride, her sweet smile and voice, her boisterous laugh, and her devotion to God. Farewell, for now, sweetheart, I love you!
P.S. – Like I said, right until the end, she was happy and loved to give hugs!
Maureen is survived by her husband Stephen, Her Daughter Lindsay Gonska, Lynchburg Virginia, Son David Gonska, Los Angeles California, Sister Catherine Agnor and her husband Ross, Hudson Ohio, Brother Paul Blake and his wife Kelly, Charlotte North Carolina, Brother Jim Blake and his wife Amie, Lexington Kentucky, Stepdaughters, Brittany, Alexis and Hailey Pereiro, Clearwater Florida and Brooke Pereiro, Yonkers New York.
A life celebration will be held in Ohio at a later date this year.