PAINTING MURAL HELPS WOMAN COPE WITH HUSBAND'S DEATH

PHILADELPHIA >> Jean Martinelli stood in the Grand Hall of the Philadelphia Convention Center Wednesday with a paintbrush in her hand, 760 miles away from home, hopeful to find a purpose, a new direction, having come to the World Meeting of Families with three close friends.

“I better not pass this up,” she said with some orange dabbed on the end of her brush. “And, my husband, who died, tapped me on the shoulder and said, ‘Go with Barb. Go with Barb.’ So, here I am.”

Martinelli, her friend Barb Perri and thousands of others are hoping to break the Guinness Book of World Records by painting a portion of a mural being created to commemorate the World Meeting of Families and Pope Francis’ visit.

According to Donna Crilley Farrell, executive director of the World Meeting of Families, the world record for the largest number of people painting a mural stands at 2,263.

Click here to read more.