Mary Catherine (nee Hawley) Wallin was born on April 22, 1927, in Green Bay and passed on March 31, 2014, at the Wealshire of Bloomington, Minn.
She was preceded in death by parents Arthur C. Hawley and Janet Ann Guldan Hawley, and an older brother, Thomas (Bernice).
Mary Catherine had been lovingly referred to as TuTu by grandson Andy and as M.C. by friends.
She is survived by husband Robert B. Wallin and her four children, Craig (Jennifer), Catherine ”Kate,” Mary Ellen (John) Dalman and Joseph (Beverly). She is also matriarch of eight grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
Her Scots-Irish heritage was always of great importance to her. She attended St. Patrick’s Elementary School in Green Bay to the fourth grade and, after a family move, Sacred Heart School in Shawano. She graduated from Shawano High School, where she enjoyed theatre and won Wisconsin’s Best Actress Award, in 1945, and went on to earn a registered nurse degree from St. Agnes School of Nursing in Fond du Lac in 1948. She used her education to go into private duty nursing care.
While in college, she met her future husband, and they were married in Shawano in 1950. The newlyweds moved to Minneapolis and started a family. She dedicated her life to raising her children and making a beautiful home. The family moved to Minnetonka, Minn., in 1963.
Over the years, Mary Catherine was active in The Woman’s Club of Minneapolis, The League of Catholic Women, the Minnesota Orchestra’s WAMSO, as well as being an active parishioner at St. Kevin’s Church of Minneapolis, Immaculate Heart of Mary (IHM) Church of Minnetonka, and St. Olaf’s Church of Minneapolis. She put her faith into action in supporting the St. Dymphna Guild at IHM.
In her “retirement years,” she enjoyed world travels with her husband, Bob, winters on San Souci Beach in Waikiki, as well as relaxing in her backyard poolside screen porch. She created many wonderful oil-on-canvas paintings, and was masterful at sewing. After 86 years of life on Earth, she succumbed to Alzheimer’s disease and has gone now to Eternal Life.
A funeral Mass will be held in Immaculate Heart of Mary Church at 13505 Excelsior Blvd. in Minnetonka on the morning of Wednesday, April 9, at 11 a.m. Visitation will be held one hour prior, with lunch after.
Memorials preferred to the Alzheimer’s Association, Caring & Sharing Hands, or IHM Church.