Ben AffleckHer late mother, Christopher Affleck, fulfilled her dream of seeing her grandson graduate just two days before she died.
Earlier this week, the Affleck family confirmed that the matriarch, best known by her nickname Chris, ‘passed away peacefully in her sleep’ on June 2, aged 83, just six months after she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. cancer.
Neither of her sons, Casey or Ben, have posted publicly about her death, but an obituary in the Boston Globe commemorated her life as a Harvard graduate, lifelong activist, public school teacher of 35 years, and loving mother and grandmother.
Perhaps the most poignant detail comes towards the end, which revealed that she was able to grant her last wish.
It reads there: ‘Her greatest wish after the diagnosis, however, was to live to see her grandson graduate from high school. She did so, joining her family on May 31, 2026. She died peacefully, in her sleep, two days later.’
Although it doesn’t say which graduation nephew attended, it’s likely Casey and Summer Phoenix’s son Atticus, who turned 18 this year.
The tribute said her five grandchildren ‘were the lifeblood of her last two decades’.
She shared her two sons with ex-husband Timothy Affleck and even played a role in launching their careers in Hollywood.
She connected the Gone Girl star with her former Harvard roommate, casting director Patty Collins, who gave him a foot in the door.
“A friend of my mum’s was a casting director so, really like a loop, I had a couple of acting jobs that had enough exposure to give me the chance to continue if I wanted to,” he said. Parade in 2007.
He added: “I followed it. Then, basically, the next phase came: Should I keep acting or not?’
Her most notable appearance on the red carpet was probably in 1998 The Oscarswhere lifelong friends Ben and Matt Damon (who also brought his mother) eventually won the Academy Award for their film Good Will Hunting.
He remembered Vanity Fair: ‘We were sitting next to our mothers and won and hugged our mothers. I remember how everyone made such a big deal out of it, as if it was such a novelty.
“I remember thinking, I was unsure, like, ‘Why? Why is it weird that we’re bringing our mothers?” Who else do you think we’d bring?”
‘There was no one else who would go. That was it. Of course our mothers would go.’
Elsewhere, she remained a staunch social-political organizer throughout her life, protesting the Vietnam War, joining Obama’s presidential campaign.
In addition to her grandson’s high school graduation, she also managed to complete one final project, taking oral histories of her friend Josh Laub’s time as principal in the South Bronx.
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