McCorry Family Christmas Letter 2011

To All,

It’s been a tumultuous week leading up to my writing this year’s Christmas Letter and I’d been looking over my notes of weddings, births, fun vacations and other family news. Then, as the saying goes, “life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans." Events took a sharp turn on December 13 when our beloved Uncle Bud Jonas left us at the age of 88, leaving behind 9 of his 10 children, multiple grandchildren and his wife of 64 years, our Aunt Teresa. Just hours later, early on December 14, we lost our dear Aunt Betty Schield, age 91, leaving behind her seven children, many grandchildren and her husband of 69 years, Carroll. As my sister Tricia pointed out, Teresa lost her husband and one of her sisters in a short time, just as my mother, Mary, lost her husband and brother – George Mullins and Dan McCorry – just two days apart during the Christmas holidays in 1993.

Aunt Betty from Jan. 2011

As always, the Bible offers comfort at these times:

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to[it]myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.”-- John 14:1-4

I offered reminiscences about Uncle Bud and Aunt Betty here and invite others to offer their comments below. The important thing to remember is how the two of them influenced the person that each of you have become and to thank them for that. My cousin Sarah Jonas wrote this on her Facebook page of Bud: “He had a dry sense of humor, he loved his wife, he worked hard and he liked to compete. He was an athlete, a teacher, a writer, an artist, a father & brother. He was generous and so very kind. He was my Dad.”

Bud Jonas and son-in-law John T

As troubling as these events have been, 2011 was also a rewarding year for the Jonases, Schields, Mullinses and McCorrys as well. Click here to view a slideshow of family photos.

It started off in January with Pat (Schield) Werth welcoming her second grandchild, Daniella Angele, on Jan. 12. Her parents, Megan and Nino Rabbaa, already have a daughter, Juliana. Nino, who already owns Rendez Vous Bistro in Santa Rosa, plans to open a second restaurant there early next year. Pat’s son Justin also works there and Justin’s Uncle Joey Schield works in the office. Mary Alice has her own place in Sonoma. Pat and her husband Jay Werth took time off from their grandparenting duties to visit Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.

David and Becky’s daughter Jessica Schield and her boyfriend Josh Reeves, had a girl Aug. 23, Rian Kaela -- Rian is the Irish female spelling of Ryan -- in Maui where they live and where Jessica manages a restaurant. David Schield has bought a marketing company and is no longer working out of his home, but has to get dressed to go to work, says his sister Pat!  David’s son Jeff has just moved to Chicago where he is a personal trainer and daughter Grace is at the University of Iowa playing soccer as well as studying.

Dan and Bobbi Schield went to visit their son Michael in China last spring, especially enjoying Hong Kong.  Their daughter, Emily, after graduating from University of Wisconsin-Madison, moved to Portland, Ore., and works for Milwaukee Tool.  Miranda works for Veolia Environmental Services in Chicago.  Dan’s sister Wendy joined Jay and Pat for another visit to Paris this summer, including taking in the last leg of the Tour de France.

 

Paris also drew Jane (Jonas) and her husband John T. Williams in October; they also traveled widely throughout France, including Provence and Versailles as well as the required Paris stops of the Louvre and Eiffel Tower. Jane’s son Jonas Shaner continues his job as a nurse in San Diego and son Luke continues his architecture career in Minneapolis. Jane was impressed that Luke, at a party he threw, made French fries on the grill and baked two deep-dish pies from scratch – one apple, the other blueberry.

Marypat (Jonas) Groth says her son Jeremy wed Krystal Polakowski July 9 at Renaissance Place on Milwaukee’s east side. At the reception, the crowd danced to the music of Five Card Studs, Paul Jonas’s band.

Brian and Betsy McCorry welcomed a new grandchild this year when daughter Lizzie and her husband, Phil Koesterer, welcomed son Philip Joseph Koesterer V into the world Nov. 5th, although Grandpa Brian says he is going to go by "PJ." Meanwhile, son Patrick and his wife Erin are expecting their first child in the spring of 2012. Both couples married in 2010. Maureen (McCorry) Drabik reports that her mother, our Aunt MaryAnn, is doing well, still living at the Sunrise Senior Living Community in Willowbrook, Ill. MaryAnn doesn’t use a computer much anymore but Maureen got her an Apple iPad and, after some one-on-one training, does get some use out of it. BTW, I read the late Steve Jobs’s biography on a Kindle app on a Google Android tablet computer I own, which means I read all about the Apple genius without using any Apple products. I asked friends, “Does that make me a bad person?”

My sister Betty made quite an accomplishment this year, self-publishing her book “Don’t Let Down,” a work of fiction based on the experiences of our parents at St. Matthews parish in Milwaukee during World War II. You can order the book on Authorhouse.com and they will print a copy for you on demand. The book is available on Amazon.com as a hardcover or softcover book and as a digital version to read on a Kindle. You can also order it online at BarnesandNoble.com, including an e-reader version for the Kindle Nook. Also, this year, Betty took our nephew Casey George Mullins to New York City to, among other things, take in a performance of “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” starring Daniel Radcliffe of the “Harry Potter” film franchise. Yours truly played the role of “Office Boy” in the production of “HTSIBWRT” at Wauwatosa East High School in 1971 (wince).

Erin Freer (right) on graduation day

Bill Mullins is now a contract technical writer for Disney in Los Angeles, Kathy Gesley still works at a cystic fibrosis clinic in Palo Alto while her daughter Maureen lives with brother Brendan in Berkeley; their brother Sam also lives nearby. Maureen invited us to a fundraiser for Bilingual Education for Central America (BECA) in San Francisco in November. It’s a cause Maureen supports because of her work teaching in Honduras while she was earning her degree in International Studies from UW-Madison. Mary Mullins still works at Mader’s restaurant in Milwaukee while her daughter Lizzie graduates from high school in June. I still live in Oakley with my loving – and very patient – sister Tricia, as I continue freelance technology writing while looking for fulltime employment. Tricia’s daughter Erin graduated from the Christian Simpson University in Redding, Calif., with a BA in General Ministries and is currently interning at a church community support program in Connecticut. Joe returned to the bar business this year taking a job at a place called Barnicle Bud’s in Bay View. Tricia and I will be spending Christmas Eve again with Eileen in San Francisco dining at The Fairmont and taking in a Christmas Mass at Grace Cathedral.

Jonases visiting the nuns in Chicago

The nuns are doing well living at Provena McAuley Manor in Chicago and enjoying the occasional visit from relatives such as niece Jane, nephew Jim Jonas and the nun’s sister Teresa Jonas. Like many of you they are still trying to get used to the new liturgy for a Catholic Mass that went into effect on the first Sunday of Advent. Among the changes, instead of saying “one in being with the Father,” you say, “consubstantial with the Father,” which to me means many of the faithful will likely take out their smartphones during Mass to Google/Bing the word “consubstantial.”

Special thanks go out to this year’s contributors to the letter, including Pat Werth, Maureen Drabik, Brian McCorry and Betty Mullins. Here's another link to that slideshow of more family photos that I think you’ll enjoy. Again, my condolences to the family and friends of Aunt Betty and Uncle Bud who will both be missed. I hope having family around you during the holidays will make those losses easier to bear.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Robert Mullins