Maryanne Schack

Obituary Maryanne Thomas Schack was actually named Marilyn Thomas on May 18, 1933 born in Tacoma, Washington. At the insistence of her Irish Catholic Grandmother Mary 0 'Brien Thomas, she was baptized Maryanne, because great-grandma was sure there was no St. Marilyn. She has always been known as Maryanne to her friends. When she spent the night at a girl friend's house at the age of eight, Maryanne was intrigued by what her little Catholic friend did before she hopped into bed. "What are you doing?" Maryanne asked of her friend who was next to her bed on her knees. "I am saying my good-night prayers," the little girl responded. "Teach me how to do that," begged Maryanne excitedly. The next morning, when Maryanne came home, she announced emphatically to my Grandma Sophie, "Mother, I want to be Catholic!" "Heavens' sakes," said Grandma, "Where is this all coming from? You already ARE Catholic." "I am?" she cried. "Well, why haven't you taught me any prayers? Why don't we go to Church? And why am I not going to Catholic School like my friend?" Grandma and Grandpa were not going to take mom to Church. If she wanted to go, she could get herself there. And as far as going to Catholic School, she told them it was their duty to let her go. So, from then on, mom went to Mass herself every Sunday as a third-grader, and managed to get herself enrolled in the Catholic School. She struggled her first year at St. Leo's Elementary and was often embarrassed for being so far behind. But by the next year she was getting all A's. I have long known this story and have always felt that lowed my faith to a little third-grader. My mom was not only an exemplary student during her school years, she was a devout Catholic, all her life, even as a teen-ager. When she started dating my dad at 16 years of age, she would always have to be home by a certain time. Not because her folks said she should be home, but because she had a rosary and other prayers to say before she went to bed. When Stan asked her if she could stay out later on a date, she would always decline. She fmally told him, when he asked, what she was doing. My dad offered to pray with her if it meant getting to be with her for a little while longer. Thus started my dad's journey of faith, learning from my mom, a young St. Leo's High School girl. She never asked him to become Catholic for her. My dad, who had never been raised in any faith, said he was inspired by her goodness and example, wanting what she had. He became a Catholic, so they could get married being united in faith as well as in love. My Mom loved being Catholic- She loved the Pope, the Bishops and Priests, Holy Sisters, sending our archdiocesan priests Mass and prayer enrollments every Christmas. Even priests she did not know. She was thrilled when she and dad got to travel to Italy and France, making a pilgrimage to Rome, Lourdes, Assisi and other places of Catholic devotion. She insisted on climbing the 300 plus steps to the top of St. Peter's Dome, even though it hurt her quite a bit. This was just a few years before she finally surrendered to a wheel chair. Mom loved to travel, which sounds a bit strange to me, knowing she always lived within an 11 mile radius her entire life here in Tacoma. I think what she actually loved was not the travelling part, but getting to visit the holy places of her faith, evidenced by bringing home a rather large replica of St. Peter's Basilica and a couple of gallons of Lourdes water. I had always hoped that Mom would be healed of her many ailments, but it was not God's will. She instead offered her sufferings for the poor souls in Purgatory and for grace for her family and friends. Since my mom was in a wheel chair for the past 15 years, you may be surprised to know that my mom was quite an athlete as a girl -she played baseball, figure skated, and bowled in a league. As an adult, she also loved to play the horses at Longacres. Does that count as a sport? My Grandparents would often go and so she felt this was a good way to spend some quality time with her folks. Mom was quite good at betting and I remember getting a dog from her winnings and a brand-new formica kitchen dining set. Being a busy mom of four very active children, mom did her best, in spite of her Rheumatoid Arthritis and numerous other ailments, to let us have a nonnal childhood. This meant going on a number of camping trips, sleeping in a tent. She did however make dad carry their bed mattress on top of the station wagon. Even though others would have excused her, my mom would never dream of bringing store-bought cookies to a Church or social gathering, because unless it was home-made you couldn't "taste the love." It was always important to Mom that we could taste the love, no matter what. In so many ways, Mom, showed what it meant to be loving. Her grandsons Jacob and Ben remember fondly how Grandma would take them to the B&I to get baseball cards and then go for burgers and fries at Burger King. Her only grand-daughter Claire loved spending time every year at Grandma's for the Christmas holidays and a couple of weeks in the summer. Grandma always had time to play games with her and was especially entertaining for the whole family when we played Cranium. Unlike the rest of the family, Claire liked being on Grandma's team. My mom had a talent for writing. She wrote for a newsletter for a few years which made its way around the states and even abroad, some family and Catholic magazines, and a number of funny skits for her sorority sisters of Beta Sigma Phi. Of course, us kids provided her with quite a bit of material. For example, Mom was always a stickler for telling the truth. However, she did subscribe to not telling my dad everything when it came to what she put on his plate for dinner. I was often in the kitchen helping to get dinner on the table. Sometimes a weenie might roll off the bread board onto the floor. My mom would quickly pick it up and set it aside "for dad," saying "What he doesn't know won't hurt him." Evidently my youngest sibling, Kimberly, must have been paying attention, because one day, mom had set out some pork chops on the kitchen counter to thaw. We about died laughing, a bit sheepishly, I might add, when we heard 3 year-old Kim yell, "Mommy .... Kitty has daddy's porkchop." My brother Mike was especially good for some humorous stories. One that he will allow me to tell is when he came into the house and immediately started pacing around with a worried expression on his 4-year old face. "Mike, what's the matter?" my suspicious mom inquired. "Nuffm," Mike replied. Mom then decided to go outside and have a look around. When she came back in, Mike squinted his eyes at her and asked, "Did you see nuffm?" It wasn't long before mom broke him down to spill the beans. That was Mom, our family'S moral compass. A couple of frequently-used "Mom-isms" during our childhood would be "Would Mary or Jesus do that?" or, if you were upset or hurting about something, "offer it up to Jesus" was often a final recourse. Mom herself was a good example of "offering it up" for Jesus. She was chronically sick, or having an arthritic flare up, and I often wondered how she could love Jesus so much when he wasn't doing anything to heal her. I brought it up to her one day as I was sitting at her sick bed. In fact, I added, if Jesus loved her so much, why was she so sick all the time? My mom pointed to the picture of the Sacred Heart near her bed and said, "Wendy, see Jesus' heart? It is on fire with love for each one of us. Jesus loves me, too, and when I am sick he lets me share in His Love in a special way. I offer up my sufferings with Him on the cross to help others. This is a special kind of prayer. Jesus takes my suffering and brings good out of it for others. See the crown of thorns around His Heart? Jesus offered His suffering up for all of us because He loves us and wants us all to be in Heaven with Him someday." Mom, we hope that you are now finally tasting the love of God's Heavenly Banquet, with no more pain and suffering. Thanks for being YOU! Funeral Mass will be celebrated Friday,January 11, 2019 at 9:00am at St.Charles Borromeo Catholic Church. Rosary will be recited Thursday,January 10 2019 at 7:00pm also at St.Charles Borromeo Catholic Church. Interment at Calvary Cemetery. Any gifts in her memory are appreciated, especially donations to any three of her favorite charities: Catholic Relief Services, Right to Life and of course, St. Charles Parish. Arrangements by Gaffney Funeral Home