Mary Hearn

Our dear and beloved mother, Mary Cecelia Hearn (nee Motsinger) passed away peacefully from natural causes in the early morning hours of May 7, 2020, just over five weeks before her 86th birthday.

Mom was born on June 15, 1934 in Freeport, IL, the fourth of six children and only daughter of Ernest L. and Mary M. Motsinger. She graduated from Aquin High School in Freeport in 1952 and from Clarke College in Dubuque, IA, in 1957. She met her future husband Richard Hearn on a blind date during her college years in Dubuque. Mary and Richard married on June 14, 1958 in Clinton, IA. They too had five boys and one girl, though Mom was always slyly proud to have at least advanced her own daughter’s place in the birth order by one. Because she had earned a degree in biology at Clarke, Mom worked in the laboratories of Miller Brewing Company in Milwaukee and the VA Hospital in Denver, CO before they had their first child in 1960.

In 1968, Mary and Richard and five of their children moved to Oconomowoc, WI, where their sixth child was born in 1973. Mom was the consummate homemaker, creating an environment not only where her six children matured and flourished, but also one in which the population of children at any given time who did not share our last name was generally at least equal to those who did. The Hearn children all had friends over almost all the time, but such was the loving, secure, stimulating and welcoming environment Mom always ensured our home would be.

In addition to be being a remarkable parent, while raising her own six children as well as mentoring many others, Mom was also an active and vital member of St. Jerome’s Catholic Parish, teaching CCD classes and leading youth and adult retreats, volunteering generously, co-chairing the St. Jerome’s Parish Cookbook committee and devoting large amounts of her time and considerable sewing and arts and crafts talents to the parish holiday bazaar, which she chaired for many years.

When she reached the point in her life where her children began to leave the family home to pursue their own lives, Mom developed keen interests in genealogy and Irish music and culture, which she indulged by numerous trips to Ireland to take in generous amounts of both and to research the history of her maternal Kirby family prior to their immigration from Ireland in the 1830’s.

Mom designed and built her own home on Indian Mound Road on Silver Lake in 1987 and lived there as a proud and happy grandparent, an active community member, a devoted friend and the nucleus of large group of similarly afflicted celtophiles until 1997, when she moved to Madison to be closer to several of her children and grandchildren. Late in 2013, in declining health, she joined the Attic Angels Community, where she lived until her passing.

Mary is survived by her brother Donald Motsinger (Jean), her children R. Anthony, Daniel (Dawn), Jane Toon (Al), Michael (Michael Sweeten), Paul (Stephanie Bieling) and J. Brian; grandchildren Kiley, Morgan Percevecz (Caleb), Sheridan and Frank Hearn; Nicholas Toon (Annie), Kirby Henderson (Michael), Molly  Lillard (Tres) and Sydney Toon, Katie McDonald Hearn and R.J. Hearn Sweeten and great grandchildren Albert (AJ) Toon and Dashel Percevez. She was preceded in death by her former husband Richard Hearn, her parents Ernest and Mary and her brothers Ernest Jr., John, James and William.

Our family wishes to extend profound gratitude to the caregivers, staff and management team of the Attic Angels Community in Middleton for their remarkable and compassionate care of our mother during the last six and a half years of her life.

Our family will celebrate a Mass of Christian Burial for our dear and beloved mother, Mary Cecelia Hearn (nee Motsinger), who passed away on May 7, 2020. The service will begin at 12:00 pm on Thursday, July 8th at St. Jerome’s Catholic Parish in Oconomowoc. Following the mass, a Graveside Rite of Committal will be held at St. Jerome’s Cemetery. Our family cordially invites all who knew and loved our mother to join us.

Cress Center

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