By Paul J. Condra
Eileen Tosner, 73, who had spent her
entire life in Lynbrook, was shot in the back of her head during a March 12 Mass. The Rev. Lawrence Penzes, 50, was also shot dead in the hail of gunfire, just as he had finished the homily. A suspect was arrested and charged with the murders.
Family and friends remembered Ms. Tosner as a strong woman, a devout Irish Catholic, who even in the face of adversity remained true to her faith and devotion.
And her life was not without adversity.
Family members said Ms. Tosner came from an abusive home, and dropped out of school when she was 13. They said she quit school because she wanted to earn money to help her sister buy a communion dress.
It was that sort of devotion to the church that carried over into the next 60 years of Ms. Tosner's life.
Even when she lost two of her five children to cancer one son in 1994 and the other eight years later and her brother and sister became paralyzed from accidents, her faith never wavered, and she would attend the Mass at Our Lady of Peace every morning, sometimes getting there early to recite her prayers, friends said.
She and her husband, Frank, 78, raised their five children in the church, sending them all to attend school there.
[She was] a simple woman who taught me more than any scholar, about working hard, about forgiveness, a lesson we will all have to keep close to our hearts in the coming months, said her son, Rob Tosner, of Provincetown Mass.
Mom has traveled a difficult road but we know that she is now safely home, he said. Standing next to Rob at the funeral were his sister-in-law, Mary Beth Tosner of Wantagh, and his brother, John of Wellington Fla.
About 500 to 600 people attended the funeral services. A bagpiper paid tribute to the Irish Catholic woman whose casket was carried back into the place where she was shot, then out again to be buried at Calverton National Cemetery.
The Rev. Steven R. Camp celebrated the services, which included hymns and prayers to the Virgin Mary, which were Ms. Tosner's favorite.
It was ironic that two people of peace would be taken away from us so violently, Camp said.
Sister Barbara Faber, who works at the church, shared the same sentiment of irony. She said Ms. Tosner was the quiet type who worked diligently but was more behind the scenes. Now everybody knows her name, she said.
She was just a beautiful woman, she said.
Ms. Tosner had a large collection of porcelain dolls, and she had tiny birdhouses on her porch.
She had a poodle she used to take for walks in the neighborhood.
She was a frequent volunteer at the church and the local Veterans of Foreign Wars post, where her husband was a member.
Family members said she was the kind of woman who would rather have died in church than anywhere else.
