After Mother's Death, Inver Grove Woman Carries on Her Final Charitable Project

When Inver Grove Heights resident Kathy Malecek’s mother died last month at the age of 78, Malecek decided to see through her unfinished project.

In January, Loretta Giroux had won $100 in seed money from the St. Cloud Visitor, a Catholic newspaper, in a “Pay it Forward for Lent” charity contest. Giroux was planning on using it to send out a round of mailings in a fundraiser for Eagle’s Healing Nest, a nonprofit that treats soldiers suffering from PTSD and other “invisible wounds.” She hoped to raise $3,500.

After Giroux died on Feb. 7, Malecek sent out the mailings for her and so far has raised more than $4,300 for Eagle’s Nest, including about $1,000 in memorial gift they directed to the non-profit.

“She always referred to me as her secretary,” Malecek said.

The emotional toll of military service was a worthy cause for Giroux. She was widowed in 1963 at 29 when her first husband, Malecek’s father, died from lung disease his family believes he contracted from nuclear poisoning in Nevada. Giroux’s father served in World War I, her brother in World War II, her son on an atomic submarine and her second husband in Germany.

“I can honestly say that none of them came home the same as they left,” Giroux wrote in her application for the “Pay it Forward” seed money. “My father suffered greatly all of his life: he could not forgive himself for killing another man even if he was the enemy and it was kill or be killed.”

Giroux worked as a homemaker, nurse's aid and cook's aid and was a member of multiple charitable organizations, including the American Legion.

For her daughter, being able to fulfill her mother’s last wishes has been a pleasant task.

“It’s far more blessing than burden, and it’s amazing what people are writing and saying about my mom—she was very much loved in her community.”

Those interested in donating can visit the project’s Facebook page.

Here’s a poem Giroux wrote entitled “Memorial Day”:

Thank you, God, for this Memorial Day.
I took some time with you to pray

For loved ones lost in battle so brave.
Here we stand at their grave.

The flag waves briskly in the breeze.
They called his name, my heart did freeze.

The lonesome sound of "Taps" did play
As we remembered them in our own special way.

The husbands, fathers, brothers, and sons
Each of them the honored ones.

They are gone, but not forgotten.
Sometimes this world seems really rotten.

Then remember freedom is not free!
They paid the price for you and me.