My full name is Lori
Ann Lucia Hewuse
Curley Killoy.
My sister, JoEllen, named me Lori
Ann when she was three years old and four years before I was born. She
wanted a baby brother because everybody had a baby brother - including
her best friend, our cousin Maureen. On May 29, 1965, Francis LaVerne
William Hewuse, Jr. (
Fran II in the family) was born; JoEllen finally had her
baby brother. Then she decided she wanted a "Lori Ann" baby. She had to
wait through the birth of a second baby brother (our brother
Tom in
1967) before I finally was born. To this day, she cannot remember where
she heard the name.
Lucia (pronounced
loo-CHEE-ah) is my confirmation name. I was confirmed
Catholic in
May of 1986, and was one of only two confirmees in my class
to add a confirmation name. Santa Lucia was a giftbringer like
Santa
Claus or
Saint Nicholas. She is the patron saint of
Scandinavia and
her
feast day
is December 13. In the United States, Santa Lucia is
known as
Saint Lucy,
who is the patron saint of eyes. Although I no longer am Catholic, I still admire Santa Lucia.
Hewuse is my maiden name. It's pronounced the same as
Hughes, but as
one cousin put it, "We're the poor side of the family."
On July 13, 1991, I married
Brian
Keith Curley, the great love of my
life and the World's Greatest Husband. For obvious reasons, both my
sister and I changed our names when we married. Ironically, however, so
did our sisters-in-law; now they
have the complicated last name. Brian & I have been owned by many
wonderful
critters
over the years, and our current masters and mistress are
Crown Prince
Harry,
Prince
Widget, and
Princess
Queen Gleep. In July 2009, we adopted a puppy that Brian named
Prince Nibbler.
Killoy is an ancestral name. John & Catherine Killoy emigrated from
Ireland to America in the 19th century and settled in Southwestern
Wisconsin. They are my great-great-great grandparents. Killoy is what I
use for my pen-name. I want to be a
writer.
Lori Ann Curley is my legal name. I hate the way
Lori Curley
sounds, which is why I go by Lori Ann Curley, but please, call me Lori
rather than Lori Ann or I'll think you're one of my
aunts! Remember: it's one name (Lori) or three (Lori Ann
Curley); never two (Lori Ann or Lori Curley). Odd numbers for an
odd person.
I was born on
August
28,
1969, at 1:47 pm, which makes me a
Virgo. I
was born late for lunch and have been late ever since. I've been late
so often that I actually have it written in to my funeral plans that my
body is to arrive fifteen minutes after the service is scheduled to
begin so I literally can be "late for my own funeral." When I made this
plan, the employee at the
funeral parlor stated, "But that would be a
bad reflection on us."
"No, it won't." I replied, "Everyone there will know and understand." (and hopefully laugh)
When in doubt, smile!
-Lori, Queen of Castle Curley