Page 15 - The Wayne Dispatch

Birthday, Continued from page 13
more dedicated than her born-
Catholic husband. She’s been a
member of St. Mary’s for over 70
years. Until recently, she taught cate-
chism there for 40 years. She tried
to leave teaching several times be-
fore, but there was never a teacher to
take over. When they were able to get
two teachers not long ago, she was
out of there! She still helps out when
she can at the church.
Laura, her daughter-in-law, says
“She’s very spunky. She’s willing to
try anything.” Virgie pipes up “I’ll try
anything!” She has a kindle, an iPad,
a computer and is learning Alexa
(Amazon’s virtual assistant). She’s
not a big traveler, but she has been
to Canada (Milton was from Canada)
and last year, she travelled with Milt
Jr. and Laura to Italy.
“We didn’t think iPhones. We were
just lucky if we had a dollar to buy a
loaf of bread, a bottle of milk,” said
Virgie when asked about her youth.
Reflecting back on her life in
Wayne, Virgie recalls urban renewal
and the devastation it caused in split of Michigan Avenue. She recalls area. She remembers Lazar’s, (“they dren were there. Seventeen of her 19
Wayne. “It was the worst thing to do the parking structure by the library had everything!”) the dimestore, the great-grandchildren were able to at-
to Wayne,” she said referring to the was built to bring businesses to the old library. When the road split, the tend. Virgie had a great time!
decline started. “It ruined Wayne!”
Virgie tells a story about her early
demise. One day, UHT Funeral Home
had the name “Virgie Mack” on their
outside board announcing services
for the deceased. Friends saw it and
thought she had died. Turns out
there was another Virgie Mack in
this small world.
Virgie recently attended the All-
City reunion for the high school. She
says there were about 7-8 of her
classmates there.
This energetic woman, who
laughs and smiles often, still gets out
in the community. She meets with
her union friends once a month and
meets with a group of people she
worked with every Wednesday to
have fun. She has collected Hum-
mels and Precious Moments. She
has some figurines that she made. “I
go from one collection to another,”
she says. She still knits, crochets
and sews.
About 90 people who love Virgie
came together to celebrate her 90th
birthday at a party held at Wayne
Irene “Virgie” Mack with her son Milt and Lara Mack. Tree Manor. All five of her grandchil-
The Wayne Dispatch · June 2019 · 15