The McCorry Family’s Year of 2017

The most difficult news of the past year was of the wildfires that swept Wine Country in Northern California. Among the many structures destroyed in those October fires was the home of Pat (Schield) Werth and her husband Jay Werth along Bardy Road outside Santa Rosa.

Pat and Jay escaped and relocated to the nearby home, which was spared, of their daughter Megan (Werth) Rabbaa, her husband Nino and their two little girls, Juliana and Daniella. For now, it’s where the Werths will stay until they rebuild.

Pat and Jay Werth's home near Santa Rosa

Their ordeal is the most difficult one among the people in the McCorry extended family in 2017, but not the only one. Our cousin Peter Jonas lost his son Sam on June 5 after Sam’s long battle with cystic fibrosis. And David Schield’s mother-in-law, Thelma Weber, died April 25 at age 90 at her home in Western Wisconsin. There were others.

Nonetheless, there were reasons to delight in McCorry Family USA happenings this year. David and Rebecca Schield’s daughter, Jessica, married Joshua Reeves in July at the Schield family’s “Never-Never Land” cottage near Neillsville. There were other weddings this year among other families. Also, my niece Erin Freer, daughter of my sister Tricia, is engaged to Mike Ewing and plan to wed in August of 2018.

The Schield Family

Pat Werth tells me they were awakened at about 2:00 a.m. on October 9 by a phone call on their landline. She didn’t answer it but then her cell phone rang with a call from Megan, alerting her to the fire. Megan said they were being evacuated and were heading to the Werth’s home. Pat told her not to do that because they were being evacuated, too; she surmised that was what the landline call was about. She and Jay looked out and saw a red sky and flying embers. They drove away with fire on both sides of the road and heavy smoke. They took shelter at a fire station.

Eventually, Pat and Jay met up with Megan, Nino and their daughters, at a hotel.

“The hug among us when we all got there was something I will never forget - we were all ok and that was most important,” Pat said.

Also spared was Pat’s sister, Mary Alice Shield, who lived west of Santa Rosa and was out of danger.

In a few weeks, Pat, Megan and Pat’s sister Wendy Smail, visiting from Colorado, returned to the site where Pat and Jay’s home once stood. It was built in 1973 and the Werths moved into it in 1993.

(L-R) Wendy, Pat and Megan

While the home was completely destroyed, Pat notes that a lemon tree somehow survived. Also, on a subsequent visit, she discovered that a lilac bush was again in bloom. “We will rebuild,” the couple declares, and Jay started on the plans.

Pat and lemon tree

Other news from the Schields was the wedding of David and Becky’s daughter Jessica to Josh Reeves. David and his new son-in-law bonded by creating home-brewed beers for the reception. David -- whose company, Chrysalis Design Works, creates packaging for beers -- made the two labels: “Seven Year Hitch,” an Irish Red; and “Ball & Chain Ale,” a Pale Ale!

Jessica (center) and Josh (to her left) Reeves

Dan Schield also performed the father-of-the-bride role for his daughter Emily (Schield) Conrad at her wedding to Cole Conrad at the Keystone Ski Resort area of Colorado in August. Both Conrads work at Milwaukee Tool in, natch, Milwaukee.

Emily and Cole Conrad

The Mullins Family

My sisters Betty Mullins and Tricia (Mullins) Freer took an interesting trip this past summer. They both flew separately to Montreal and from there, took a train west across Canada, stopping at many interesting places along the way.

Our brother Bill moved recently to Palm Springs from L.A. Tricia and I went there to have Thanksgiving with him.

Tricia, Robert and Bill

I started driving for Uber this past June. It adds a nice regular flow of money along with my more sporadic earnings as a freelance marketing writer, plus my pension from work earlier in my career at the University of Wisconsin System.

Our sister, Mary, recently retired from waitressing. Her most recent gig was at the legendary Milwaukee German restaurant Mader’s. Her husband, Bill Van Pelt, is scheduled to retire from UW-Milwaukee in 2018. Their daughter Lizzie is a student there.

(L-R) Erin Freer, the ring, Mike Ewing

And, as I mentioned earlier, Tricia’s daughter Erin is engaged to boyfriend Mike Ewing. The wedding, set for August 18, 2018, will be at Tricia’s home in Oakley, Calif. They have been together for about three years and live together in Los Angeles. Mike manages a Starbucks and Erin is an administrative assistant at a law firm. BTW, Mike is a stand-up guy! My brother Joe still lives and works in Milwaukee, Kathy is in retirement in LaCrosse, and Eileen is in San Francisco.

The McCorry Family

Andrew McCorry, the fourth of five children of Brian and Betsy McCorry, married Kristina Marinelli on June 24. The ceremony was held at the Basilica of Notre Dame and the reception was held nearby in South Bend. Interestingly, June 24^th is also the wedding date of Andrew’s grandparents, Dan and Mary Ann McCorry – in 1950.

Andrew and Kristina McCorry Wedding

Patrick McCorry, Brian and Betsy’s oldest, is moving from Sacramento to nearby Davis, Calif., after Patrick’s wife, Erin, finished up a fellowship in endocrinology there this year. Erin will be working next at a Kaiser Permanente hospital near Davis.

Brian and Betsy’s youngest son, Matthew, will be spending Christmas this year in Thailand.

Sr. Acquinice McCorry continues her stay at Mercy Circle Retirement Community in Chicago. Sr. A, who turns 93 in January, tells me she’s okay, but slowing down as you would expect and needing a walker as does her only surviving sibling, Aunt Teresa Jonas. Teresa’s son Paul and daughter Sarah drove their mom from Milwaukee on Teresa’s 89^th birthday Oct. 15 to see Sr. Acquinice. “All she wanted for her birthday was to come down to see me,” Sr. A said.

The Jonas Family

Speaking of the Jonases, there was sad news – though not unexpected – on June 5^th with the passing of Sam Jonas, 34, the son of Peter Jonas and Barbara Lanza-Jonas, after a lifelong battle with cystic fibrosis.

Sam’s aunt and my cousin, Jane (Jonas) Williams, shared this with me that day by email: "His body was just unable to overcome the strain of infections that he was fighting. He was a warrior every day of his life. He passed peacefully surrounded by his closest family."

Sam Jonas

Sam may be gone but he will not be forgotten. Sam’s brother Pete, Jr., and his wife, Kelly, welcomed a son into the world on April 17. They have named him Sammy.

Sam and Pete Jr.’s dad, Peter Jonas, is preparing to spend his first winter at a home he bought in Naples, Fla. Peter is enjoying his first full year of retirement after 24 years as VP of Operations at HellermannTyton Corp.

Brother-in-law Mike Groth, retired from Tax Airfreight after 35 years, is remodeling a lake home he and his wife, Mary Pat (Jonas) Groth, recently purchased. Their son Jeremy and Jeremy’s bride, Krystal Groth, welcomed son Jacob into the world on Feb. 27 of this year. Little known fact: Young Jacob shares a birthdate with the Mullins twins, Joe and Eileen.

Tom Jonas, who provided me the details on the news above, also tells me his wife, Sandy’s, mother, Dorothy Stawicki passed away on Mar. 10.

On the bright side, though, Tom and Sandy’s son, Connor, is pursuing an MBA at Louisiana State University (LSU). Better yet, his employer is paying the tuition. Nice!

Luke Shaner and wife Marielena Parris

In last year’s Christmas letter, I told you that Jane’s son, Luke, became engaged to Marielena Parris. The ceremony was held on August 24^th of this year on their property in Bayfield, Wis. Luke also becomes a stepdad to Marielena’s two children, Alessa and Taylor Parris. Also, Jane and her husband John T. Williams, become great grandparents.

I think it’s time for another one of those family tree charts that Sr. Benedicta made for us years ago!

Sarah Jonas’s husband, Scott Przybylowski, continues his treatment for esophageal cancer, which was diagnosed in 2016. Doctors are looking at different immuno-therapies for him to try out because the chemotherapy treatments he has been undergoing have had adverse side effects. He’s trying to eat right, gain weight and improve his quality of life. “He’s fighting the good fight,” Sarah writes. “His goals are to gain weight and get to our annual Mexico trip in February.”

I want to thank everyone who contributed news, information and photos to this year’s letter. I especially want to thank Facebook Messenger that allowed me to ping some of you with a quick, pesky fact-check question that you were able to respond to, literally in seconds! I hope we can all stay in touch going forward.

As we close out another year, I know you all appreciate the value of family and cherish the memories we have had together. I hope you’ll appreciate this one. Recently, I attended a book-signing event in Palo Alto where MSNBC News anchor Chris Matthews was touting his new book, “Bobby Kennedy: A Raging Spirit.” As he signed my copy, I told Chris “I’m from an Irish-Catholic family of five girls and four boys,” and then we both said, in unison, “Just like the Kennedys!”

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Sincerely,

Robert Mullins

San Jose, Calif.