My sister Maureen passed away this morning after a long battle with ovarian cancer.
Maureen was the owner, director and principal teacher of the Portland Studio of Ballet and Highland Dance in Portland, Tennessee. A life-long ballet dancer, she performed with ballet companies in Kansas, Virginia and Tennessee. Later in her life she became interested in highland dance, and she won a closetful of trophies competing with girls half her age at highland games. She was particularly good at the sword dance.
During her illness, she never lost her spirit. If anything, she became even bolder and more determined. When she and other patients were treated thoughtlessly in one study, she protested vigorously and effectively, resulting in apologies from the institution and changes in policy.
She never lost her quirky sense of humor, either. She liked to decorate the scars from her surgeries when she saw her doctors. Sometimes she glued rhinestones on them; other times, she would apply temporary tattoos to enhance their lines.
Maureen’s survivors include her husband Jerry; sons Lance and Corey; stepsons Barry, Brett and Eric; grandsons Logan and Ryder; her parents; brothers Matthew and me; sisters Eileen and Margaret.
Please remember her in your prayers. Thank you.
Addendum: The family will receive friends on Wednesday January 20th from 9:30 am to 10:45 am at St. John Vianney Catholic Church in Gallatin, Tennessee, 449 North Water Avenue, followed by Mass at 11:00 am. Interment will be held at Middle Tennessee Veterans Cemetery, 7931 McCrory Ln, Nashville, TN. at 2:00 pm on January 20th. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Gilda’s Club, 1707 Division Street, Nashville, Tennessee 37207-2701.
Thank you Don.
Margaret
Beautiful, Don. I’ll miss her too.
Don,
I am so sorry. Prayers for her repose and for you and your family. Thank you for letting us know.
shalom,
Steven
I am a friend of Lances and had the great of pleasure getting to know Maureen. She was a great and wonderful woman. I will keep your family in my prayers.
Maureen was a very good friend in high school. I will keep her and your family in my prayers!
Thank you, everyone.
Don
Thanks for this, it means more than you know.
Love
Corey Katie & Ryder
May her soul rest in peace.
Your family is in my prayers.
Wow, what great words and pictures…thank so much!
To you, Don, to Maureen’s husband and to all of Maureen’s family I offer my condolences. My prayers and thoughts go with you and please be assured of my prayers for the repose of her soul.
I was a friend of Maureen’s at TAC and enjoyed every minute I spent with her. She was such a delightful person and I am blessed to have known her. I am sorry we lost touch after college but have been praying for her since I heard of her illness on the college website. Thank you for this post and a “window” into her life after college. God bless.
Dear Don, your remembrance of Maureen is so beautiful. What an inspiring woman!! I remember her from TAC (but I was in a different class). My prayers are for her and with her family! GOD BLESS YOU ALL!! -Karen
Dear Don and family,
I remember Maureen from TAC. She would practice her ballet in the common room in the dorms and chat away with all of her friends. I will keep her in my prayers.
Mary Ann
Dear McClanes and Fogles,
I am very saddened to hear of your loss. Maureen was a classmate of mine in college and we had many lively conversations regarding music and other things. Her nickname was “Keksi”, because she made Keksi around Easter for many of the students. She was a truely unique and wonderful person. You are all in our prayers.
Love, Jim, Gretchen and Margaret Mills
Sounds like a fascinating woman. God rest her.
Dear Don and family,
I was at TAC before Maureen, a US Navy vet like Jerry (before TAC)and I worked with your dad and mom at CUF in the early 80’s.
I’m now custodian of the National Pilgrim Virgin Statue of Our Lady of Fatima for the United States, a miraculous Statue blessed by Pope Paul VI for our country and given to us by the Bishop of Fatima in 1967.
When I learned about Maureen’s illness I placed a petition on her behalf before the miraculous Image and asked Our Blessed Mother to take care of her and her family. I’m sure She continues to look after Maureen and her loved ones.
Faithfully,
Bill Sockey
Maureen was my roomie freshman and sophomore years at TAC. She was my social director and made sure I left our room for more than meals and class. She was fiercely loyal – she even snuck out after curfew to bail out another TACer who ran afoul of the law. She could be one tough cookie when she wanted to but I was fortunate to see the marshmallow side of her too. The word “quirky” to describe her sense of humor is most apt – seeing the dragon tatoo is sooo Maureen! I wish we had stayed in touch more (don’t we always say that?) When she got married she wrote to me and I sensed that she had found a good soulmate and was in a good place. One of my fondest memories of her was an ongoing “discussion” of the relative merits of Gilbert and Sullivan versus Richard Wagner with Jim Mills. She even went so far as to obtain Jim’s favorite jeans from his roommate and took an entire evening to sew the words Gilbert and Sullivan in cheerios down the pant legs. I have the photo should anyone doubt. Thank you Don for sharing your sister’s story with us. May she rest in peace.
Maureen will be rembered in our prayers that she shares eternal joy with God. We also pray for her family in their time of sorrow. Maureen was a great friend many years ago at TAC. She was a wonderful Latin tutor and a great seamstress as I still have a shirt that she made 30 years ago. It is nice to see this update on her life and I can only imagine how she is missed. Pat
Dear family and friends of Maureen,
Very sorry to hear that Maureen is gone. I was a fellow student of hers at TAC. We were in different classes, and so I didn’t know her really well. But I never saw her without a smile on her face. I pray that she may behold the face of our God and savior this day.
We are very sad and our hearts heavy to hear about MS Maureen, my daughter Angela was one of her Highland Dancing Students for 4 years. She blessed our family so much, Angela has a seizure disorder and her body lost its ability to make white blood cells so she spent alot of time in isolation, and no other teachers would even let her try. When I called Ms Maureen to ask about Angela Dancing, She ask if Angela had two legs? Angela picked Ms. Maureen as her hero this year, and hopes to one day teach dancing. Ms Maureen would never let Angela feel sorry for herself, She taught her to keep trying, don’t use your differences as an excuse to not do your best. We are so Thankful for all the love and hard work She gave to our family. We will miss her very much. Angela wants you to know she is the one that painted Ms. Maureens tummy with the temp. tattoos and she is really excited to have the picture of her. Thank you.
Thank you for this posting for Maureen! I was in a different class at TAC from Maureen’s but still impressed by her enthusism for truth-and-love-in-action which clearly stayed with her all her life! May her beautiful soul rest in peace! My brother Fr. Kermit Syren LC will offer Holy Mass for her.
we miss you Grandma
Don,
I just found this. It is lovely and I know Maureen would appreciate it. I still miss her so much and I hate that I didn’t find out how to find any of her family.
She said the dearest things about you, Don, and she appreciated you and your support so much. God Bless you.
Happy Birthday Maureen.
Yesterday was the one year anniversary of Maureen’s passing. I still miss her so much. Seems like yesterday that we were on our way to Ti Chi.