Merry Christmas to All 2013

To All,                                                                 Christmas 2013

There was a double dose of sadness this year as the extended McCorry family mourned the losses of Aunt Mary Ann McCorry in May and Uncle Carroll Schield in November. At the same time, there was a lot of love to go around as relatives shared sadness but also fond memories of the departed. Also, there were far more happy events to enjoy like the wedding of Dan and Bobbi Schield’s daughter Miranda to Justin Mayer in June and our nephew Casey Mullins’ graduation from high school in May.

Uncle Carroll made it past his 96^th birthday but passed away the next day, Nov. 22, after a brief bout with cancer.

Here’s an excerpt of David Schield’s tribute to his father on David’s Facebook page: “It was a peaceful passing and I know he was greeted at the gates by our Mother, his parents, several relatives and friends. He leaves his seven children and spouses, grandchildren and great grandchildren with cherished memories of growing up together, and a special family heirloom we call Never Never Land, the family cottage in Hatfield, Wis.”

Many other commenters on Facebook and elsewhere mentioned the cottage, too, a place full of fond memories from childhood through today. I also remember Pat (Schield) Werth lamenting that when someone passes after a such long life, a lot of the history they experienced is lost, although the rest of us can preserve it as best as we can.

A memorial service is scheduled for Fri. Jan. 24, 2014, at St. Mary’s Church in Neillsville; visitation starts at 10:00 a.m. followed by a mass at 11:00 a.m.

I invite you to click here to access a slide show of several family photos from this past year. If you have any trouble accessing it, let me know.

Several family members traveled to Quincy, Ill., May 17 for the memorial service for Aunt Mary Ann, who died April 16 at the age of 89.

Dan McCorry delivered the eulogy, at St. Peter the Great church in Quincy, and did a great job of portraying his mother as the lively and loving wife, mother, grandmother, etc., “who taught us all to ENJOY life to the fullest—every day.”

“Mother was a woman of faith,” Dan said.  “We remember her leading us in saying an evening rosary as we grew up… she continued to recite the rosary with and for our grandchildren… and she religiously prayed the rosary every morning for us all.”

After the Mass, we went into the basement of the church for a reception and later returned to the hotel where many of the family were staying to hang out for a few hours and catch up.

Brian McCorry tells us that just three months after his mother passed, his wife Betsy’s mother, Mary Holmes Bernard, died July 1 at age 89. Brian says he also lost a best friend from college who died around that same time, but also that he had the opportunity to visit France with Betsy in October to mark the 40th Anniversary Reunion of their sophomore year abroad program.  He wrote: “Nearly two-thirds of our original group of students was in attendance.  Highlights included Betsy's getting her picture in the local paper, my being interviewed - yes, in French - by said publication, and most of all, meeting up with my ‘French mother,’ now 82 years young. One of my biggest regrets is that she and Mother never got to meet each other.”    

Not all family gatherings this year have been somber. Many of the Schields traveled to Chicago for the wedding June 1 of Miranda Schield, Dan and Bobbie’s daughter, to Justin Mayer. There are 239 photos of the festivities on Rebecca Schield’s (David’s wife) Facebook page! Enjoy, those of you connected to her.

Also from the Schields, David says his daughter Jessica is expecting her second child Dec. 21 or 22. I’ll update you once that happens. Also, David’s brother Jim is retiring in January from the U.S. Marshal’s Service after close to 29 years on the job.

Also retiring is my sister Kathy from her career in nursing. She says she has been working since the age of 13, when she cared for a wheelchair-bound woman who lived across the street from us on 71^st Street. So 50 years!

The same weekend as Aunt Mary Ann’s service, many of the Mullinses traveled to Milwaukee to celebrate the high school graduation of Casey Mullins, our nephew. He graduated from Thomas Moore High School in Bay View where I believe some of the Jonas boys graduated. We had a cookout at the house where my brother Joe Mullins lives about two blocks from the school. Casey is a freshman at UW-Milwaukee, living on campus.

Our niece Maureen Gesley moved into a home in San Leandro, Calif., south of Oakland, with her boyfriend, Jono Piva, who has a delightful little daughter, soon to be 3-year old Gia, from a previous relationship. Erin Freer now lives with her cousin Brendan Gesley in the Berkeley apartment where Brendan and Maureen once lived. Everybody else is humming along doing pretty well — me in San Jose, Kathy in Palo Alto, Tricia in Oakley, Bill in Redondo Beach and Betty, Mary and Joe in Milwaukee.

Bill had a little Facebook “meme” of his own this year when our cousin David Schield posted side-by-side photos of Bill and Pope Francis and noticed a strong resemblance.  It inspired Bill to dress like a pope for Halloween!

From the Jonases comes word that Anna (Jonas) Borden and her husband John celebrated their 25^th wedding anniversary by traveling to Washington, D.C., with their three children. Anna says she’s pursuing her second master’s degree at Alverno College in Milwaukee. The first was in communication sciences and disorders and the one she’s pursuing now – one class a semester – will be in educational administrative leadership. Her goal is to be a director of pupil services or special education. What a noble calling.

Aunt Teresa tells us that her son Jim Jonas is living in Costa Rica teaching English as a second language to students. Jane and her husband JT are in San Diego where JT is recuperating from a knee replacement. PJ, Peter’’s son, and Kelly are expecting a child in February while Jim’s daughter Katie is due in January. Meanwhile, Mary Pat’s son Jeremy gains the title “Doctor” sometime in 2014.

Sarah Jonas still keeps us updated on Facebook about fun stuff happening at her Café LuLu in Bay View and her Juniper 61 restaurant in Wauwatosa. Meanwhile, Paul Jonas updates us on goings-on at his Tonic Tavern, a short walk from LuLu’s on Kinnikinnic Ave., as well as where his band Five Card Studs is playing. Paul posted a vintage Jonas family photo from the early 1970s – what I call the “Partridge Family Era!” It’s a hoot.

Sr. Mary Acquinice (Aunt Rita) says that she, the other retired nuns and Sr. Mary Benedicta (Aunt Eleanor) will be moving into a new retirement home recently built on the same property as the retirement home in Chicago where they’d lived for the last several years. This is expected to happen sometime in January, she says. Both the nuns are doing about the same healthwise.

Here’s hoping everyone has a successful, happy and satisfying New Year. It’ll start off a little somber at first with the memorial for Uncle Carroll, but I hope everything gets better for all of you real soon.

Love,

Robert Mullins