For those of you who don’t follow me on social media, and also those of you who do, my wonderful mother Yvonne M. Mack passed away this Monday, after a long battle against cancer.

Because the local newspaper that ran my mother’s obituary does not permit paragraph breaks, her obituary ran as a single massive block of type in a very long column. For this reason, I am sharing her obituary here, in the format that I originally intended.

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YVONNE M. MACK, 1941–2020

Yvonne M. Mack, 78, of Chicopee, Mass., passed away April 27, 2020, in her home after a courageous four-year battle against cancer.

Yvonne was born May 13, 1941, in South Hadley, to Adelard and Amanda Beauregard (née Lamothe). She graduated in 1959 from South Hadley High School and studied business administration at Holyoke Community College.

In June of 1960, Yvonne married John W. Klisiewicz. They had two sons, Stephen J. Klisiewicz and David A. Mack (Klisiewicz), before they divorced in 1973. In March of 1974, Yvonne married David L. Mack, with whom she shared 46 wonderful years.

At age 13, Yvonne knew she wanted to be not just a secretary but an executive assistant—a “Della Street” to a “Perry Mason”—and devoted herself to that career goal. She worked as an executive assistant for various law firms, as well as for Holyoke Hospital and the admissions department of Smith College. She retired in 2011 from Springfield law firm Bacon & Wilson LLP, but she loved her work so much that after retirement she served as the secretary to the HOA where she lived.

Yvonne was an avid reader, a superb cook, a patient gardener, and a loving wife and mother. She enjoyed doting on her cats and working with her hands.

She is survived by her husband, David; her older son, Stephen, and his wife, Elizabeth Klisiewicz, of Whitinsville; her younger son, David, and his wife, Kara Bain, of Astoria, NY; her grandchild, Julian X. Klisiewicz, of Whitinsville; and six siblings: Adelard Beauregard, Jr., of Florida; Marion Russell, of Chicopee; Patrick Beauregard of California; Regina Dzuris of Belchertown; Jeanette Bechta of Florida; Cecile McLoughlin of Holyoke; and innumerable nieces and nephews. She is preceded in death by her parents and her older brother Henry Beauregard.

In lieu of flowers, Yvonne and her family ask that those who wish to honor her life and memory make donations to St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital (stjudes.org) or to the charity of one’s choice. A celebration of her life will be held at a later date.