The League offices will be closed Friday for the funeral of Catherine Crowley, Ann Scheidler’s mother and the Director’s mother-in-law.
Rest in Peace, Catherine Crowley
Catherine was 87, and active almost up to the day of her death. She was a Chicagoan all her life, having been born in Rogers Park in 1917. She attended all Catholic schools, St. Jerome, St. Scholastica, Mundelein College and Loyola University. She also worked for Catholic Charities in Chicago.
While getting her master’s degree at Loyola University she signed up to become a licensed pilot with the thought of flying planes to England for the war effort. At Loyola she met Thomas E. Crowley, a law student, who was also in Army Officer Training School and spent four years in the European theater.
After the war they built a home in Glenview where Catherine lived for fifty-nine years and where they raised their ten children. Their oldest daughter, Ann, is Executive Director of the League.
Catherine took on a full time teaching job at Our Lady of Perpetual Help School when her youngest child started school there. While there she helped coordinate curricula and developed integrated studies programs. She was a finalist in the NASA Teacher in space program.
A Rich Life of Service
At OLPH parish, she was both lector and a minister of communion. Over the years she opened her home to care for her ailing mother for eighteen years, and elderly uncle and friends of her children who had become homeless.
In 1973 she was the first woman to run for Glenview Park District Commissioner, won her election and served for thirty-two years on the Commission, including five terms as President. During her tenure she acquired four hundred additional acres for park use, created several new parks and developed the Park Center at the Glen. In 2003 Catherine had a parked named for her, the Catherine W. Crowley Park, in recognition of her contributions to Glenview.
But she took greatest delight in her faith and her family of six sons, four daughters, thirty three grandchildren and twelve great grandchildren.
Catherine died of cancer on Wednesday morning, April 27 at home, surrounded by her children. Her wake is Thursday, April 28, from 3 to 9 p.m. at Donnellan Family Funeral Home, 10045 Skokie Blvd. in Skokie. Her funeral Mass is at 10 a.m. Friday, April 29, at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church, 1775 Grove St. in Glenview. Internment will be at All Saints Cemetery.
A Tremendous Zest for Life
When our Face the Truth Tour visited Glenview a few years ago Catherine joined us holding signs. One at least one occasion her husband, Attorney Tom Crowley, joined the League in picketing an abortion mill on Michigan Avenue.
One thing that could be said about Catherine was that she had a tremendous zest for life, savored every experience to the fullest and was noted for her sense of humor. May she rest in peace.
