Thursday, July 16, 2009

Trudy Kolb



Trudy Kolb
1927-2007
Wife
Mother
Mother-in-law
Grandmother
Sister
Aunt
Catholic


Trudy Kolb was bon December 23, 1927, in Little Chute to Dutch parents, George and Catherine (Rutten) VandeLogt. Her family moved to DePere and on June 6, 1953, she maried Eugene Kolb. Together they raised five children.

Family was always the most important part of Trudy's life. Each one of her childen had a special place in her heart. Cathy, the oldest, had the first grandchildren. When Kathleen was born pematurely, Trudy took an infant CPR course so she could babysit for her. When Chris started buying houses in Manitowoc both Trudy and Gene worked tirelessly to whip them into shape. When Jon bought crates of clothing from Shopko to give to charity, it was Trudy and Gene who cut the labels, sorted and re-boxed all the individual items. When Jeanne went to China to adopt Allison, Trudy went way out of her comfort zone to accompany her. But the trips that lasted the longest were the ones they took to Merced, CA where Trudy and Gene would spend months getting to know their grandsons at Tim and Min's.

Trudy was also close to her extended family, especially her sister, Lee. They married brothers and lived directly across the street from each other. They were lovingly devoted to each other through their many stages of life. Trudy was also a hard worker. She worked at Baeten's Store, later at Royal Cleaners and eventually retired from Dorsch Ford in 1990. She also worked side by side with Gene on their many projects at their cottage in Silver Cliff, which they loved.

Sadly, Trudy died on Saturday, July 7, 2007 at Door County Memorial Hospital. Her funeral was held at St. Mary Catholic Community in DePere. During the Funeral Mass, Father John Harper recreated the white erase board that had hung in Trudy's hospital room. On it was her doctor's name, her nurse's name and below someone had written the words, "Wife, mom, mother-in-law, grandmother, sister, aunt and Catholic". Father made the point that Catholic was not the last item on the list. It was the basis of all the other relationships. And it was. Trudy often attended daily Mass and for decades attended a "perpetual Novena" at St. Norbert Abbey. She was also a person who knew her rosary and was fond of praying the Memorare.
Trudy is entombed in Allouez Chapel Mausoleum.
The Memorare
Oh most gracious Virgin Mary, never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help or sought thy intercession was left unaided. Inspired by this confidence, I fly to thee Oh virgins of virgins, my mother. To thee I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. Oh mother of the word incarnate, despise not my petitions but through thy mercy, hear and answer me. Amen.

Click on any photo to see a larger version.


Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Eileen Early Blaney


Eileen
Early
Blaney

Eileen (Early) Blaney died on August 1, 2004 at her home in Green Bay. She had been diagnosed with a tumor in mid March. In late April she moved back to her apartment and agreed to be cared for by her six children. Eileen was the last surving child of a family of 5 children.

She was a member of "The Greatest Generation". She attended college but left to help her family. She lived through the Great Depression and World War II. She worked in the shipyards, was a flight attendent and later worked for the phone company.

She married William Blaney on Jan. 17, 1948 at St. Patrick Catholic Church which was located in the "Irish Patch" of Green Bay. During their marriage they worked together for many years at Blaney Funeral Home. Eileen was a licensed funeral director. She raised six children and excelled at the art of finding a good sale, a trait she tried in vain to pass on to her children. She did succeed in teaching her children that there is a standard for decent, polite behavior in the world and in her house. To be clear on those standards was a great advantage. We learned that there were priorities. Work came before play, dishes and school work came before T.V. and paper routes came before dinner. Every Sunday and every Holy Day began with Mass. The children were not pressured to be the star athlete or class scholar but a good effort was always expected and being polite was mandated. Our mother taught us the value of fun. The harder we could make a sibling or an aunt or uncle laugh, the better the day. To make a story better or more ridiculous was a gift she encouraged. Vulgarity, in any form was not tolerated but real humor or wit was rewarded with real laughter.

In 1989, her husband, Bill, died at the age of 74. She suffered through health problems as well but worked dilligently to maintian and rebuild her strength. Eileen never felt sorry for herself and often said that she always knew of someone who was worse off.

She was proud of the fact that she had a niece and a great niece named after her.

Eileen enjoyed her life, especially when she could celebrate her Irish heritage. She passed her Irish pride on to her children and grandchildren. We believe that when Eileen approaches Heaven's Gate, St. Peter will be joined by members of the Early and Blaney Families and they will greet her with the Irish expression,

"Cead Mile Failte!"

which means"

A Hundred Thousand Welcomes!"



Our cottage



The Blaney
Family Cottage
This is the "Blaney Cottage" located in beautiful Fish Creek, WI. The cottage is on Spring Road just about a 1/4 mile from "downtown".









Directions from Sturgeon Bay
Take Hwy 42 north through Fish Creek
turn Right on Spring Road.






"Cead Mile Failte!"
a hundred thousand welcomes!




Start of a Blog


Welcome to the
Blaney Family Website

In October of 2009 Geocities will be closing. Over the past several years we have created a number of websites on Geocites at www.geocities.com/BlaneyFamily. This blog is our attempt to transfer some of those websites to Blogger.

We have two great daughters. Kathleen just recently graduated from Marquette Univiersity with a B.S. in Nursing.

Erin is a graduate of Notre Dame Academy in Green Bay is a student at Marquette University.

Notre Dame
Academy
Marquette
University