New picture of Sister Benedicta

A few days after I posted the McCorry Family Christmas Letter 2010, Sr. Aquinice mailed me this photo of Sr. Benedicta taken in September. Not bad for 92, isn't it? As I mentioned, Sr. B is "surprisingly holding her own" two years after her stroke. I think this photo proves it.


Sr. Aquinice says a card to Sr. Benedicta is always welcome. I'll update this post with her mailing address as soon as I con firm it.
Again, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all.
Robert

Schield Family Newsletter 2010

Each year I send out queries to various cousins to get news of their family's doings the past year. Pat Werth sent a detailed report and rather than try to summarize it and risk leaving something out, I've added it in here as a separate post. Thanks, Pat.

Here is the Schield news letter. It does take time to get everyone to respond, doesn't it? I only have 6 to worry about! Mom is just out of the hospital. The diagnosis is beginning Alzheimers but several of her children don't believe it - we think it is more related to her blood sugars. Dan is going down next weekend for a few days. One good outcome is that a home nurse is coming in each day to get her started - we all think that will relieve pressure on Dad, but at 90 and 93 they are doing well.

We celebrated Mom’s 90th birthday in February (above is 2009 photo) with most of the Schield children and their spouses, three granddaughters and two great grandchildren sharing a beach house with Mom and Dad in Florida. Weather could have been warmer, but that did not stop us from having a good time. Mom and Dad are doing as well as can be expected at their ages.

The Schield children (above in 2009 photo) have not moved, but their children are all over the world. David and Becky’s Jessica is living in Maui. Son Jeff is a personal trainer in Sarasota, Florida and is also coaching soccer for a local club organization. Grace is a freshman at UNI (University of Northern Iowa) where she is a walk-on soccer player who spent this season recovering from minor knee surgery. Her intention is to become a high school history teacher.

Jim, Shawn, Brieana and Jonah live in Arlington, VA. Brieana is going to NOVA community college and plans to transfer to George Mason University in the fall. Her passion continues to be working with children and one day hopes to be a teacher. She is a wonderful mommy to Jonah who will be 2 in March. Brandon lives in San Diego and works at a landscaping business owned by a friend and often goes to LA to play his music, which is still his passion.

Mary Alice is struggling with life and needs many prayers to help her find her way. Joey is living in Petaluma and surprised many of us with his knowledge of all the 100 best football players of all time ­ he knew them all!!!

Wendy is working in Boulder as a hygienist. Daughter Brittany finishes university in San Francisco in time to go to Paris with her mother for Christmas. Christmas lunch at Le Train Bleu; ­ I am jealous!! Son Patrick is living in Seattle.

Dan and Bobbi’s Miranda took a marketing position with Veolia Environmental Services in Chicago in the fall of 2009 and is very happy there. Michael is starting his second year as a golf pro in Shenzhen, China and Emily is in her last year at U of WI. She had an internship in London this past summer – not much work I think – more traveling!!

[Son-in-law Nino Rabbaa's] Santa Rosa restaurant, Rendez Vous Bistro (above), is doing well even in this economy and he will open another restaurant about a block away sometime early in 2011. It will be an upscale burger bar. There will also be another great grandchild for Mom and Dad as Megan and Nino are expecting their second daughter in January. Juliana started kindergarten in the fall and is very excited about the coming baby. Justin works at the restaurant and also still plays with his band.

Never Never Land (the family cottage in Hatfield) got a little sprucing up this past summer, thanks to Becky and David. A little reorganization in the kitchen area and new flooring, some new carpet in one of the bedrooms, a fresh paint job highlight the work so it is ready for a 'hopeful' McCorry Cousin's gathering sometime perhaps in 2011.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all.

Pat

McCorry Family Christmas Letter 2010

Blessings of the season to all…

As you gather with your families this Christmas, please remember in your prayers the members of the Jonas family who lost Tess Jonas Moede on June 8. She died in a fall at the home of her parents, Bud and Teresa Jonas, in Milwaukee. She was 60. Her passing was a shock to all. She was remembered at a service June 11 at the Prasser-Kleczka Bay View Chapel. Tess’s other siblings and grandchildren have been helping Bud and Teresa who still live in their home on the south side.

Other Jonases are flourishing in their careers in the bar and restaurant business in Milwaukee. Sarah’s restaurant/bar Café Lulu was honored twice by the Web site OnMilwaukee.com as the readers’ choice for the Best Sandwich and the Best Salad of 2010. “Café Lulu is a Bay View anchor, either on the quiet café side or bustling bar side,” read one of the reviews. Meanwhile, sibling Paul Jonas received a Mayor’s Design Award from Mayor Tom Barrett for his Tonic Tavern in Bay View. Tonic won in the “Design That Grabs You” category. Jim Jonas traveled to San Diego to visit sister Jane Williams and participate in a three-day, 60-mile long Susan G. Komen walk to raise money for breast cancer research (see photo). My brother Bill Mullins came down from L.A. to congratulate him. Tom and Sandy Jonas celebrated their 20^th anniversary this year; their son Connor is studying engineering at Arizona State University on an academic scholarship. Mary Pat and Michael Groth's son Jeremy is engaged to marry Krystal Polakowski July 9 next year; he's in medical school at UW-Madison. Sarah’s husband Scott Przybylowski finished restoring a 1964 Plymouth Valiant in time to party on Halloween dressed as Don Draper (see photo); he and the Valiant would fit right in on “Mad Men!” Anna, her husband John and their children had lunch with Kathy, Tricia and me in San Francisco in June during a West Coast vacation; we also saw Jane and her son Luke during their SF visit in the fall.

From the Schields comes news that our Aunt Betty turned 90 in February and that the family visited her and Uncle Carroll, 93, in Florida. Doctors have diagnosed “beginning Alzheimer’s” in Betty, writes Pat Werth from California, but several of the children think it’s just low blood sugar. Here’s a link to the entire Schield Family Newsletter. Other highlights, though, are that daughter Megan and her husband Nino Rabbaa, are expecting their second daughter in January; Juliana is already in kindergarten. Wendy’s daughter Brittany finishes her college studies in San Francisco in time for a Christmas trip to Paris with her mom. Pat asks you to include her sister Mary Alice in your prayers. Pat also says David and Becky were sprucing up the cottage outside Neillsville this summer and Pat hints that it is ready for a “'hopeful' McCorry Cousin's gathering sometime, perhaps in 2011.”

Tricia, Kathy and I have reconnected with our sister Eileen who has a small apartment in downtown San Francisco. Eileen is working as a massage therapist and hoping to attend school to learn computer graphic design. We’ll be gathering Christmas Eve for a concert at the renowned Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. Tricia traveled to Connecticut this summer to visit her daughter Erin who was interning at a church there and participating in a community support program. Erin expects to earn a Bachelor’s Degree in 2011 in general ministries with a minor in Bible theology from Simpson University in Redding, Calif. The two of them also visited Cape Cod with relatives from her late husband Ken’s side of the family. Kathy’s daughter Maureen spent the summer teaching in Honduras and now shares an apartment in Berkeley with her brother Brendan who’s finishing up his studies at UC-Davis. Joe, now working at a Kmart in Milwaukee, came out to California so we could celebrate his 50th birthday (see photo). Mary and Betty are still neighbors in Shorewood. Betty enjoyed a reunion with her “other” Brothers and Sisters, the song and dance group she was with in the 1970s. Our nephew Casey Mullins is 15 and populates his Facebook page with several photos of him with attractive female classmates! Bill has had his contract doing technical writing in LA for Yahoo renewed for another year, while I’ve also won a full year renewal of a contract blogging about Microsoft for Network World. I also enjoy getting demos of new devices running Windows Phone 7 and Google Android and writing reviews there and on Examiner.com.

The McCorrys celebrated two weddings this year. The oldest son of Brian and Betsy McCorry, Patrick (left), married Erin Lafler July 31 in Olympia, Wash. Patrick works for an online advertising firm while his wife attends medical school in New York City. Later, middle child Liz (below) married Phil Koesterer Sept. 17, at St. Patrick’s Church in South Bend, Ind. Phil works in marketing and Liz works for the Dorothy and Gaylord Donnelly Foundation, both in Chicago. “Both weddings were just wonderful, far surpassing our expectations,” Betsy wrote me.

Sr. Aquinice (Aunt Rita) tells me that Sr. Benedicta (Aunt Eleanor) is “surprisingly holding her own” two years after her stroke. “She lights up when she sees someone she knows and is always upbeat,” Rita says, though she still struggles with talking.

I encourage those of you reading this on the blog to leave a comment, which then will be shared with others visiting the site. When you click on “Post a Comment,” you’ll be asked to enter your Google username and password, but if you don’t have one, you can select “Anonymous” and post away, though you might want to identify yourself in the body of your comment.

Thanks to all the contributors to this year’s letter and best wishes to all of you for a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2011!

Love,

Robert Mullins