McCorry Cousins Christmas Letter 2015

To the McCorry Families,                                                                                        Christmas 2015

Merry Christmas to all of you as members of the McCorry extended family gather to spend time together and look back on another year.  I hope that you have all had a happy and enjoyable 2015 and that things only get better for you in 2016.

The California Mullins and Schield families started the year off with lunch together in San Francisco January 3. My sisters Tricia Freer, Kathy Gesley, Kathy’s daughter, Maureen, and me, met with Pat Werth, Wendy Smail and Wendy’s daughter, Brittany, at Pizzeria Delfina, where Brittany works. We’re going to try to make it an annual thing.

Schield

In other Schield news, Dan’s and Bobbi’s daughter, Miranda Schield (below), gave birth to Theodore Schield Mayer on Oct. 26. Miranda and her husband, Justin Mayer, will raise little Theodore (Ted? Teddy?) in their new home in suburban Chicago.

Miranda Schield and son Theodore Mayer

Dan practices dentistry in Colorado, but still makes time to hit the links, earning him a Senior Cup trophy along the way! His son Mike is still a golf pro in China, and daughter Emily, lives in the Milwaukee area. Wendy Smail has retired from her career as a dental hygienist in Colorado. Besides daughter Brittany in San Francisco, Wendy’s son Patrick lives in Seattle.

Pat and Jay Werth still live in Santa Rosa, Calif. Jay turned 75 this year and while he’s still working, he and Pat still take time to travel, bike, ski and have other fun. Their daughter Megan, her husband, restaurateur Nino Rabbaa, and their two girls, Julianna, 10, and Daniella, 4, live nearby.

Jay and Pat Werth

Also nearby is Pat’s sister, Mary Alice, who this year logged onto Facebook! Joe Schield lives in Madison, near brother David in Middleton, Wis. Special thanks to David Schield this year for leaning on his siblings to provide info to me for the letter! David and Rebecca have their daughter, Jessica, living nearby along with Jessica’s significant other, Josh Reeves, and their two children, Rian, 4, and Abigail, 2, nearby. David’s son Jeff, is now working as a personal trainer in Hollywood, Fla., following his stint as a soccer coach in The Bahamas. Youngest daughter Grace also lives in Middleton and works as an assistant to an insurance agent. Jim Schield, who retired from the U.S. Marshal’s Service in 2014, continues his consulting work for the Department of Homeland Security. Jim and Shawn’s son, Brandon, still lives in the San Diego area, while Jim and Shawn’s daughter Brieana, who teaches at a private pre-school, also lives in the Washington, D.C., area with her son Jonah, 6.  

Jonas

Jim Jonas tells us he’s keeping busy being retired! “I cannot imagine having a job. Just don't have time for a job. I couldn't fit it into my schedule!” Being retired gives Jim more quality time with his daughter Katie’s little girl, Geneva, age 21 months, who refers to him as “Gumpa!” 

Jonas daughters Sarah, Anna and Jane with Mom Teresa Jonas

Tom Jonas and his wife, Sandy, both turned 60 this year (as did I) and celebrated their 25^th wedding anniversary by renewing their wedding vows at a church in Florida on a trip there. Their son, Connor, works at Citrix Systems in Scottsdale, Ariz., as a Customer Success Manager. Jane Williams and her husband John T. spent some time in Costa Rica this summer. Jane and her siblings hosted an Uncle Bud’s Picnic Aug. 2 at The Hunger Task Force Farm in Franklin, a suburb of Milwaukee. Michael Jonas has worked at HTF for years. The picnic included cousins from Uncle Bud’s Jonas side of the family as well as some McCorrys. Paul and Sarah continue their success in the bar/restaurant business with their locations in Bay View and Wauwatosa. Anna (Jonas) Borden reports that her youngest, Jamison, is now in middle school, son Paul is in high school, and her oldest, Eleanor (aka Elie), is entering her senior year. Elie got her drivers license and drives around in her own VW Beetle.

Mullins

Our oldest sister Kathy, now retired from nursing, moved this summer to La Crosse, Wis., where her retirement will presumably go farther than it would in Palo Alto, Calif. La Crosse is where I lived in the 1980s when I was the news director of the NPR station there. Also, Betty reports that she is in “my first blissful year of retirement.” Her new routine includes doing water aerobics four times a week, and the ability to do whatever else she wants: “Anything can be done or not done, now, later or never.  What freedom!” 

Bill. Robert, Kathy, Tricia July 4

I am still in San Jose in my second year as a marketing writer at a network security company called FireEye.  I also volunteer for a group called Citizens Climate Lobby, which is advocating policies to fight climate change. To show that I can talk the talk as well as walk the walk, I bought a hybrid a few months ago – a 2015 Ford Fusion -- in green just to drive home the point! Earlier this month, I made the difficult decision to put down my dog, Yankee, a Cardigan Welsh Corgi, who was 14 and in declining health. I’d had him for 10 of those years. 

My dog Yankee

 

My brother Bill, still lives in the L.A. area serving as a contract technical writer for various companies. He now gets to spend more time with our niece, Erin Freer, who moved to Venice over the summer with her boyfriend, Mike Ewing. Erin’s mom, Tricia Freer, along with sisters Mary and Betty Mullins, traveled to New York City this summer for some sightseeing and to see Broadway shows, including “An American in Paris,” “On the Town,” and “On the 20^th Century.”  At one point, they were eating at a restaurant in the Waldorf Astoria (where they stayed). Tricia ordered a Manhattan and Mary ordered a Waldorf salad.  Or, as Betty put it, "Manhattans in Manhattan and Waldorf at the Waldorf." Joe still tends bar at a couple of spots in Milwaukee and continues treatment for a liver ailment that was diagnosed earlier this year. Tricia and I have each been treated for years for hemochromatosis, a liver condition we inherited from our father. Joe doesn’t have that but he’s in good hands either way.  Eileen lives in San Francisco and is in touch with my sister Tricia.

And speaking of our dad, I posted photos of George Mullins on my Facebook page on Nov. 9, which would have been his 100^th birthday! See all the aunt and uncles and Grandma McCorry above. Hope you FBers got to see them.

McCorry

First off, the nuns – Sr. Mary Benedicta and Sr. Mary Acquinice – remain in good hands at the Mercy Circle retirement facility in Chicago. Sr. Acquinice (Aunt Rita) broke her hip in April and the condition of Sr. Benedicta (Aunt Eleanor) remains about the same in the wake of her stroke. Cousins Jim and Jane escorted their mom, Teresa Jonas, to Chicago to see the nuns a few months ago so all three of the surviving McCorry children could be together.

Sr. Benedicta, 97, Sr. Acquinice, 90, and Aunt Teresa, 87.

As to the children of Dan and Mary Ann McCorry, they are doing well.  Dan McCorry and his wife Robin, are first time grandparents: son Gavin and his wife Laura gave birth to Madeleine Iona born Sept. 23. Brian McCorry and his wife Betsy became grandparents again this past summer when son Patrick and his wife Erin McCorry welcomed their second child, Leo. Maureen (McCorry) Drabik tells me that her daughter, Meghan, graduated from University of Dayton and quickly landed a job as kindergarten teacher in Miamisburg, Ohio, a Dayton suburb. Son Patrick graduated from Downers Grove North High School, and now also attends the University of Dayton. Colleen McCorry still resides in St. Louis.

Meghan Drabik (cap & gown), Dayton Univ. Graduation

I thought of many of you after the terrorist attacks in November in Paris as I know many of you have visited there, some several times. Not only did Pat and Wendy Schield visit there over the years, Pat’s daughter Megan met her husband Nino there. My Dad served there during WWII. I know Jane Williams and my sister Betty Mullins visited as well – and I’m probably overlooking others. Let’s all hope that in 2016 and beyond, we can all live in a world that’s safe and where we can all live in peace.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year,

Robert J. Mullins

P.S. This version includes corrections to information about the Schield family that were in the e-mail version of the letter.