Surnames: McIlraith, Kinas, Braun, Matzinger, Shewcyzk, Kaczmarek, David, Kennedy

----Source: Thorp Courier (Thorp, Clark Co., WI)March 19, 2008

McIlraith, Marcelle K. (15 June 1931 - 9 March 2008)

Marcelle K. McIlraith, 76, of Amarillo, died peacefully at her home on Sunday, March 9, 2008.

Memorial services will be held at 4:00 p.m. on Friday, March 14, 2008, at St. Luke Presbyterian Church of Amarillo, with Rev. J. Pat Kennedy presiding. Services are being coordinated by Boxwell Brothers Funeral Directors, 2800 Paramount Blvd.

Marcy was born June 15, 1931, in Medford, Wisconsin to Pearl and Frank Kinas. She grew up in Thorp, Wisconsin and graduated from Thorp High School in 1948. She was married to Jack McIlraith in April 1960 in Brownwood, Texas. She attended Tarrant County Junior College in Hurst, Texas, where she earned her associates degree in business administration. She later attended Texas Wesleyan University in Fort Worth, Texas, where she graduated Summa Cum Laude with a degree in accounting in 1983. She was a member of the honor society at both TCJA and TWU. She retired as the controller for Boyles Galvanizing in 1995 following a 19-year career.

Marcy was an avid stamp collector, gardener and reader, and enjoyed cooking, sewing working puzzles, playing cards and Rummicube, and traveling to visit friends and family, especially in Thorp, Wisconsin. She was a fan of movie musicals and many different kinds of music including a special liking for Edith Piaf. She favored plaid, especially her red plaid shirts. She fed the neighborhood birds and cats, and the occasional opossum or skunk. During tomato season, her neighbors and anyone else she knew, received bags and bags of her excess harvest, and she shared seeds and bulbs from her poppies, shamrocks, and iris with anyone who asked. She was active in the Leslie Prayer Circle and the Young At Heart groups at St. Luke Presbyterian Church. She was also a current member of the Lienie Lodge. Her favorite hobby was spending time with and spoiling her grandchildren.

She was generous with her time all through her life, and her many volunteer activities included servicing as a Cub Scout Den Mother, PTA president, Boy Scout Merit Badge counselor, and Sunday school teacher at St. Philip Presbyterian Church when her children were growing up. Prior to moving to Amarillo in 2001, she participated in charity projects with St. Philip Church and she helped give comfort at the North Hills Hospital in Richland Hills, Texas by sewing comfort dolls for children treated there and by volunteering in the surgery waiting room. She helped senior citizens prepare their income taxes in Hurst, Texas and served as treasurer for NEED (North East Emergency Distribution) in Tarrant County, helping provide funds to a local food bank; she also sewed hundreds of candy gift bags for NEED Christmas food baskets.

In Amarillo, she was an active participant in projects sponsored by the Leslie Prayer Circle, including sewing caps and seatbelt buddies for patients at the local cancer center. Her favorite place to spend time as a volunteer was at the Woodlands Elementary School library, where she and her volunteer partner Rosie David, received one of the Amarillo Independent School District Volunteer of the Year Awards in 2005.

She is preceded in death by her parents and her husband. She is survived by her sons: Mike and wife, Terri, of Fort Worth, Jay and wife, Becky of Amarillo; daughter, Dr. Melissa McIlraith of Heidelberg, Germany and Dallas; grand-children: Michael of Chicago and Fort Worth, and Thomas and Mary Catherine of Amarillo; sister and brother-in-law, Pat and Alan Braun of Minneapolis, Minnesota; sister, Virginia Matzinger of Oakland, California; four great-aunts: Aunt Helen Shewcyzk, Aunt Anne Kaczmarek, Aunt Lil Kaczmarek, and Aunt Frances Kaczmarek; and numerous cousins, nieces, and nephews.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the Friends of the Library at Woodlands Elementary School, 2501 North Coulter, Amarillo, TX 79124; St. Luke Presbyterian Church, 3001 Bell Avenue, Amarillo, TX 79106; or to the American Cancer Society.

Mom, Nee-Nee, Marcy, Marcia - you are loved and missed very much.