Press, family tension in Mary Kennedy death

The family of Mary Kennedy, estranged wife of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., has hit out at what it calls “inaccuracies and misrepresentations” in press reports following her death on Wednesday.

MSNBC and the New York Daily News are reporting that her siblings have scheduled a memorial service separate from the wake, Catholic mass and Hyannisport burial being overseen by RFK, Jr.

“While we would naturally prefer to remain private at this very upsetting time, we feel compelled to make this statement because the description of Mary carried by certain news organizations since her passing is wholly inconsistent with the sister we knew and the life she, in fact, lived.”

The press reports have centered on two DUI arrests of Mary Kennedy in the spring and summer of 2010, shortly after her husband filed for divorce.  And news accounts have dwelt on reports that Bedford, N.Y., police were summoned by domestic disturbance reports to the Kennedys’ Bedford, N.Y. estate.

The family — Mary Kennedy was one of seven children — called her an “exceptional mother, sibling and friend to many.”

“Countless people have described her an extraordinary mother, selfless in her desire to help others, and one of the finest people in the world,” the statement added.  “We knew her as all those things, and more.”

Mary Kennedy died of asphyxiation due to hanging.

She and her husband were in the midst of a custody battle over the couple’s four children, aged 11 to 17.  She was the second wife of RFK, Jr., who has two children by his first marriage.

The Daily News reported that two of Mary Kennedy’s sisters were ordered out of the Bedford home by RFK, Jr., and later sought help from local police to retrieve her papers.

The Kennedy family’s historic damage control operation appeared to kick into full gear.  RFK, Jr., in a New York Times interview, talked of his life’s troubles.

“A lot of times I didn’t know how she made it through the day,” he said.  “She was in a lot of agony for a lot of her life.”

Kerry Kennedy, his sister, who had known Mary Kennedy since school days, told the NYT:  “She was fighting, fighting, fighting with every ounce of her being to beat back those demons.”

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., is a nationally known environmental lawyer and green celebrity.

He has frequently visited Seattle on the lecture circuit, and to endorse Democratic candidates.  He appeared on Portland last week to speak against proposed use of Washington and Oregon ports to export coal to China.  He has campaigned against clearcutting of ancient forests on the British Columbia coast.

Kennedy has lived much of the time in Los Angeles, and accompanied actress Cheryl Hines to the recent Sundance Film Festival and fundraisers for his Riverkeeper Foundation.

Two of his siblings have died, David Kennedy from a drug overdose, and Michael Kennedy from skiing into a tree while playing football on skis during a winter trip to Colorado.

The Classical Beat: Bach’s brilliant B minor Mass

Johann Sebastian Bach was the ultimate Lutheran, so its somewhat surprising that he wrote a full-length setting of the Roman Catholic Mass. In fact, its one of the most brilliant settings of the Mass ever written. The Spire Chamber Ensemble and the Rebel Baroque Orchestra will present an authentic period performance of the Mass in B minor at 7 Sunday night at Trinity Lutheran Church, 5601 W. 62nd St. in Mission./ppThis masterpiece has not been performed in Kansas City for several years, and I believe this will be the first period performance ever, said Ben Spalding, founder and conductor of the Spire Chamber Ensemble. I selected this piece to close our season because its not only one of the greatest works of history, but a truly modern work with much to teach us today./ppThe music is tricky for the singers and players, but weve assembled an all-star group of musicians who I think will bring the ancient words of the Mass to life. We want to capture humanitys relationship to the divine./ppBach was a devout Lutheran, but he, like many of his fellow Lutheran composers, would sometimes compose a movement or two of the Roman Catholic Mass. The Mass in B minor is unusual coming from a Lutheran composer because its a setting of the complete Mass. /ppBach seems to have written the Mass knowing it would never receive a full public performance in his Lutheran milieu. And, indeed, it was never performed in his lifetime. /ppUnlike most of his compositions, Bachs Mass in B minor was written for purely personal reasons, Spalding said. Its a pillar of Western music and may be my favorite choral work of all time, and I believe Im in good company./ppThe B minor comes at the pinnacle of his compositional output. It has the full range of human expression, from the plea of the opening Kyrie to the joyous outburst of the Gloria to the intimate Agnus Dei to the heart-stopping conclusion of the Dona Nobis Pacem./ppSpalding founded the Spire Chamber Ensemble in 2010 to bring together some of the countrys finest singers for choral concerts in the Kansas City area. Members of Spire sing or have sung with such stellar groups as Chanticleer, Conspirare, Seraphic Fire, the Kansas City Chorale, the Phoenix Chorale, Trinity Wall Street and Octarium./ppFor the B minor Mass, Spire is teaming up with Rebel, whom local audiences know from its performances on the Friends of Chamber Music series. The New York-based group, named after the French Baroque composer Jean-Fry Rebel, is considered one of Americas finest early music ensembles./ppI lived in Philadelphia for a few years, and my wife and I would often travel to Trinity Wall Street Church in New York City, where Rebel would collaborate with the Trinity Wall Street Choir on many outstanding choral masterpieces, Spalding said. One of my goals with Spire was to perform period performance chamber oratorios with the best players I could find, so I made contact with the directors of Rebel, and they enthusiastically agreed to travel to Kansas City again to perform this great work./ppFor tickets, call 913-432-5441 or visit a href =”http://tlcms.org/” target=”_blank”tlcms.org/a. Tickets will also be available at the door. $10 student rush tickets will be available 15 minutes before the performance. /ppspan class=”subhead”Ballet onscreen/span/pp Kansas Citians have another opportunity to see an HD screening of a ballet masterpiece with todays showings of the Royal Ballets production of La Fille Mal Garde. It screens at 1 p.m. at Phoenix Theatres at The Legends, 1841 Village West Parkway in Kansas City, Kan., and at 1:30 p.m. at the Tivoli Cinemas, 4050 Pennsylvania Ave./ppLa Fille Mal Garde has a distinguished history. The great choreographer Jean Dauberval came across an engraving in a Bordeaux shop of a painting by Pierre-Antoine Baudouin. The print depicted a young woman in a barn, teary-eyed, with her dress in disarray, as her mother gives her a stern lecture. In the background, a young man scampers up a ladder into the hay loft. /pp Dauberval was greatly amused by this randy tableau and decided to create a comic ballet based on the scene. /ppFor music, Dauberval used a pastiche of popular French airs (the original manuscript doesnt mention any composers), and the work had its premiere on July 1, 1789, at Grand Thtre de Bordeaux. /ppThe Ballet of the Straw, or There Is Only One Step From Bad to Good, as it was originally called, was an enormous hit, and two years after the premiere, Dauberval changed the title to La Fille Mal Garde (The Girl Who Needs Watching)./pp In 1828, Ferdinand Hrold wrote a new score using some of the original music. The musicians who played at the premiere apparently hated the original music; the original manuscript score is covered with scathing comments. The Hrold version has continued to be performed around the world, becoming the longest running ballet in the repertoire./ppIn 1959, Sir Frederick Ashton created for the Royal Ballet what many balletomanes consider the definitive La Fille Mal Gardee. Ashton wasnt quite satisfied with the music, so he asked the Royal Ballets conductor and composer, John Lanchbery, to rework and reorchestrate Hrolds original score./pp Hrolds charming and tuneful music provided a nice framework, but Lanchbery wrote a few numbers to Ashtons needs. The result of all this collaboration is a ballet that never fails to delight audiences./ppThe Royal Ballets production re-creates Ashtons vision with colorful costumes and sets. This is the perfect work to introduce a young person to the world of ballet, but people of all ages in need of good cheer will thoroughly enjoy it.

Family sues mortuary over switched bodies

Mercedes Adilia Rodriguez’s wishes were precise and meaningful: Her casket would be closed during her funeral, and she refused to be buried in the chilly earth of a Southern California cemetery. Instead, following tradition, she would be interred above ground in her hometown in Nicaragua.

But in the days after her death, family members say they were summoned to Rose Hills Memorial Park and Mortuaries in Whittier and told the funeral home had made a mistake. She had been confused with someone else.

In death, the family said, Rodriguez went through another woman’s funeral — placed in an open casket, dressed in the woman’s clothing and buried in the plot marked with that woman’s name. Days later, she was exhumed.

On Wednesday, the family filed suit against Rose Hills, alleging that Rodriguez’s cultural beliefs, superstitions and dying wishes were ignored.

Although the family said the mortuary refunded the funeral costs, the suit seeks a non-specific amount in damages because the family has been “forever haunted by the vision of how a complete stranger’s family and friends mourned, touched, kissed and cried” over their mother’s body.

A spokesperson for Rose Hills declined comment, saying employees had not seen the lawsuit.

“It was sacrilege what they did to her,” said Marielena Covarrubias, Rodriguez’s daughter. “They violated her wishes.”

She had outlined her plans years before her death, and even recorded her wishes on video.

Her children said they saw this as a final promise to their mother, a chance after a life punctuated by hardship and grief to at last fulfill her final request.

Rodriguez had been left by her husband in Nicaragua, and immigrated to the United States as her homeland was ravaged by war. In 2001, one of her daughters was killed in an auto accident.

Her children said she was strong, and certainly a disciplinarian, but had a forgiving heart.

In many ways, they joked, she was the typical Latina grandmother, with 11 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren: She was called Mamita by nearly everyone, and didn’t tolerate any distractions during the telenovelas she’d watch every night, even if she would nod off before the shows were over.

“All her life, all the hard punches — it didn’t change who she was,” Covarrubias said. “After all she went through, she had to go through this again. She wasn’t even respected when she was dead.”

After her daughter’s death, Rodriguez’s health began a slow, steady decline. She had arthritis and osteoporosis, as well as hypertension. “She faded away,” said Alberto Pernudi, Rodriguez’s son.

In her final days, she moved into Covarrubias’ home in Whittier so that she would be surrounded by family at the end. She died Sept. 30, 2010. She had just turned 88.

Family members said they were making arrangements to get her remains to her hometown of Granada, Nicaragua, when they learned she had already been buried in Rose Hills’ cemetery.

She was exhumed on a rainy, chilly night — a detail especially bothersome to her children — and Rodriguez’s life was celebrated days later with a Catholic Mass at St. Hilary Church in Pico Rivera.

The morning before his mother was to be taken to Nicaragua, Pernudi went to the funeral home to check one last time. He wanted to be sure it was her.

“Is there such thing as forgiveness for a company?” Pernudi said. “I’m still struggling with that.”

rick.rojas@latimes.com

andrew.blankstein@latimes.com

Luisita farmers hear Mass for Corona

Call the embattled SC chief ‘Champion of Agrarian Reform’

By Tetch Torres
INQUIRER.net

YEAR TWO. Celebrating his 2^nd year as Chief Justice on Thursday, beleaguered Renato Corona leads the Consecration Prayer in a Thanksgiving Mass sponsored for him by Supreme Court employees. Video by INQUIRER.net’s Tetch Torres

Hacienda Luisita farmers hold placard to show support for embattled Chief Justice Renato Corona, calling him ‘Champion of Agrarian Reform’. They heard Thursday’s Thanksgiving Mass at the Supreme Court. TETCH TORRES/INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines—Farmers from the vast sugar estate of President Benigno Aquino’s family heard Thursday’s Thanksgiving Mass at the Supreme Court.

The Catholic mass, officiated by Fr. Dave Clay, was offered for embattled Chief Justice Renato Corona to mark his second year as chief magistrate.

Also in attendance were Associate Justices Teresita Leonardo-De Castro and Jose Perez, defense lawyers Judd Roy, Ramon Esguerra and German Lichaoco II and court employees.

Members of the Confederation of Government Employees of the Philippines also heard the mass, which was also the 5th day of Octave Mass for Corona, who is set to testify Tuesday at his impeachment trial in the Senate.

The Supreme Court last month ordered the distribution to farmers of the 4,915-hectare Hacienda Luisita. The farmers on Thursday called Corona “Champion of Agrarian Reform.”

Corona was chosen as chief magistrate in 2010 by then outgoing president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

His appointment was highly contested, citing constitutional prohibition on appointments two months ahead of national elections.

The high court, however, upheld Arroyo’s power to appoint justices of the high court, saying it does not fall under the prohibitions of the Philippine Constitution.

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Ed Geib

“No hoopla,” said his son, Assistant Fire Chief Jim Geib. “Dad retired from the fire service, and he’s going out with a Catholic mass, a funeral mass.”

Geib, who called Kenwood home for more than five decades, died Saturday of a heart condition. He was 81.

He served the local fire department for 37 years as firefighter, director and, finally, chief, retiring in 1995.

But as the patriarch of a family whose lives remain centered around the family ranch that first brought him to the Sonoma Valley, Geib’s life was defined by much more.

“He’s done a lot of things in his life,” Jim Geib said.

Born in San Francisco and raised in Burlingame, Ed Geib already was armed with a driver’s license at age 14 when he found work running thoroughbreds and polo ponies for Gilmore Steel founder William Gilmore, a well-known polo player and founder of The Menlo Polo Club.

He developed a love for the creatures and learned to play polo, his pursuit before and after serving in Korea with the U.S. Army.

On his return back to the Peninsula, his sister introduced him to a young coed named Martha “Marty” Cochrane. They married six months later.

The couple moved to San Luis Obispo, where Geib, who aspired to be a veterinarian, was in the pre-vet program at Cal Poly University. Their oldest son was born there, as well.

But in a change of direction, they later moved to Santa Barbara, where Geib played polo for several years and the couple’s twins were born.

In 1957, they moved north to Kenwood, where Marty Geib was born and raised, to manage her family’s Kenwood Hereford Ranch, located off Kenilworth Avenue and what’s now called Geib Ranch Road. The youngest of their four children was born in Santa Rosa.

As was common in a small agricultural community, Geib — like both his sons — volunteered with the fire department while tending to ranch business. While serving on the board “he never missed a call” to a fire, and eventually was named the department’s first paid chief, Jim Geib said.

He was a past president of both the Sonoma County Fire Chief’s Association and the Sonoma County Fire Districts, served on the Sonoma County Arson Task Force as an arson investigator, and was a deputy state fire marshal, said his son.

He also was active in 4-H and Future Farmers of America, grooming the next generation of ranchers for the Sonoma County Fair. He loved sportsfishing, taking annual trips to Baja California for about three decades and fishing for salmon in Bodega Bay off a 26-foot skipjack named “Bombero” — “firefighter” in Spanish.

About a year after fire destroyed the old turn-of-the-century Kenwood Market across from the train depot, the Geibs built and operated a new grocery, the Kenwood Country Store, for seven or eight years in the 1970s, their son said.

In his final business venture, Geib and the family converted the ranch into winegrapes, planting 65 acres of vineyards before he finally retired about 3 1/2 years ago to a lakeside home he shared with his wife in Kelseyville.

Geib remained active and held his family close, all four generations of them, many living on the ranch where he and his wife spent most of their married life.

In addition to his wife of 58 years, Geib is survived by sons John Geib and Jim Geib, and daughters Janet Uboldi and Pat Alexander, all of Kenwood; sister Doris Long, of Alameda; five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Friday’s mass will be held at 11 a.m. at St. Leo’s Catholic Parish, 601 W. Agua Caliente Road in Sonoma.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that any memorial donations be made to the Kenwood Firefighter’s Association, P.O. Box 249, Kenwood, CA 95452.

— Mary Callahan

CLEOTILDE SANSEVIERI – Times Herald

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June 3, 1936 – May 10, 2012

Cornwall, NY

Cleotilde Sansevieri, a 76-year-old, long-time resident of Cornwall, NY, went to the Lord on Thursday, May 10, 2012 after a long battle with cancer. She was a devoted wife to Vincent Sansevieri, her husband of 55 years, who died this past June 2011.

She was the daughter of the late Concepcion and Amerejelda Gueverra Parra. She was born June 3, 1936 in Dinamante El Siete, Durango, Mexico.

Cleotilde was a long time parishioner of St.Thomas of Canterbury Catholic Church in Cornwall-on-Hudson. She was a member of the Catholic Daughters Court Rita # 264. She was a Supervisor for over 30 years in the Cadet Mess Hall at West Point. She had an endless love and enthusiasm supporting the Cadets there. She enjoyed following sports and was hoping Army would Beat Navy this year. She enjoyed playing Bingo with her friends. Cleo also enjoyed her many grandchildren and great grandchildren. She loved cruises and traveling with her husband across the U.S., Mexico, Caribbean and Europe.

She is survived by her brother, Aristeo Gueverra Parra of Durango, Mexico. She is survived by her children: Suzanne Sansevieri Bewick and her husband, Drew of Alexandria, VA, Gloria Sansevieri Toombs of New Windsor and Vincent A. Sansevieri and his wife, Lisa of New Hartford, NY. Cleotilde is survived by six grandchildren: Christopher Toombs and his wife, Heather, Daniel, Ashley and Kristen Sansevieri, Brendan and Jacquelyn Bewick; five great grandchildren: Kain Sansevieri, Egan Monahan, Deacon, Gabrielle and Madalyn Toombs. Cleotilde was predeceased by her brother, Roberto Martinez, and her sister, Maria Gueverra Parra.

A Visitation will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. on Friday, May 18, 2012 at Quigley Bros Funeral Home, 337 Hudson St., Cornwall-on-Hudson. A Catholic Mass of Christian Burial will take place at 10 a.m. on Saturday, May 19 at St. Thomas of Canterbury Catholic Church, followed by burial in Calvary Cemetery in New Windsor. A reception will be held immediately following burial at the St. Thomas of Canterbury School, 340 Hudson Street, Cornwall on Hudson, NY 12520.

Flowers to Quigley Bros Funeral Home, 337 Hudson St., Cornwall-on-Hudson 12520 and any donations may be sent to the American Cancer Society.

‘Hap’ Glaser, 90, acclaimed athlete, teacher

SPRINGFIELD TWP. – Rose Mary “Hap” Glaser, an accomplished athlete, teacher, devout Christian and caregiver, died May 11 at Mercy Franciscan Terrace in Springfield Township. She was 90.

Nicknamed for her perpetual smile as an infant, she was a twin, born Oct. 22, 1921, weighing just over 2 pounds, to Albert and Mary Rose Glaser. She grew up in a two-bedroom home in Carthage with eight other siblings. The close family attended Catholic Mass and prayed the rosary together.

Ms. Glaser attended St. Charles grade school and Lady of Angels High School, now known as Roger Bacon, in St. Bernard, where she was a friend of classmate Doris Kappelhoff, better known as Doris Day. She was also an accomplished athlete.

“She was a pitcher with a mean, stinging ball,” said her sister, Mary Lou Clark of Springfield Township. “Everyone was afraid of Hap’s fastball. She told the coach, ‘My sister can catch them. She does it every night at home.’ So they pulled me from the freshman team to varsity.’’

Ms. Glaser helped her teammates bring back state titles in basketball, softball and volleyball. She graduated in 1939 and attended Marion College in Indianapolis on an academic scholarship. She earned a bachelor’s degree in physical education, before continuing her studies at the University of Cincinnati in 1942.

While at UC, Ms. Glaser played two seasons each of basketball, softball, tennis, archery, fencing, field hockey, badminton, volleyball and sharpshooting, earning the highest awards available for female student-athletes. In 1943, she received the Red Blazer award, presented to the top female student athlete. Ms. Glaser went on to earn her master’s degree at Xavier University.

In 1944, Ms. Glaser played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League for the Kenosha (Wis.) Comets, where she pitched and played the outfield. Each player recieved their own baseball card. In 1992, the film “A League of Their Own” debuted. The comedy-drama was based on Ms. Glaser’s league.

That’s when the autograph requests started pouring in.

“‘Hap’ was very humble,’’ said her brother Stan Glaser of Springfield Township.

“After the movie came out, she got hundreds of requests. She would sign and return them. Just this past week, she received two more requests.”

She won Ohio MVP honors in basketball in 1949 and statewide notoriety during a 25-year amateur softball career.

She settled in Bridgetown, teaching one year in Elmwood Place Schools. Then she accepted a position in 1946 to teach physical education and coach girls sports in the Reading Community City Schools, until retiring in 1975. At her retirement, students presented her with “The Greatest Teacher There Ever Was” trophy.

After retiring, Ms. Glaser participated in publicity stunts for the Cincinnati Reds by hitting balls to the fence line at Crosley Field. She also worked at “Glaser Clark” deli in Carthage, owned by her sister, Mary Lou Clark, and her husband.

She found pleasure babysitting nieces and nephews, chauffeuring them in her convertible, attending daily Mass at Our Lady of Visitation, sending holiday cards and taking care of loved ones, especially her mother.

In 1990, Rose Mary was inducted into both UC’s Athletic Hall of Fame and the Buddy LaRosa’s Hall of Fame, the latter’s first female inductee

In addition to her sister and brother, survivors include two brothers, her twin, Albert Glaser of Finneytown, and Donald Glaser of Oxford; and one sister, Eileen McMahon of Finneytown.

Services have been held.

For consideration in Lives Remembered, send information and contact number to livesremembered@enquirer.com.

Human Rights Begin in the Pew

Religious-based bigotry eviscerates women’s human rights the world over, and God doesn’t like it one damned bit.

Today at the grocery store, I overheard a mom telling her little girl, “Of course you can be President of the United States!” It seems a boy at school said girls were not good enough to be president because they weren’t boys. Even though I had heard such things before (I am the youngest of six with five older brothers), this particular conversation stopped me dead in my religious tracks.

Catholicism decided I wasn’t good enough to be a leader in the Church about 2,000 years before I was born. I couldn’t be its president (aka “pope”) or a priest or bishop or cardinal because I happened to be female. Not knowing any better, I accepted my Catholic less-than-ness as a fact of life, like when the Little League in Wheaton, Ill., said I couldn’t play because I was a girl. I didn’t organize sit ins on the pitcher’s mound or walk outs from the pew. Like other girls, I simply accepted the adult-dictated view of things.

The Catholic Church believes the Bible (a document written, translated and almost entirely interpreted by men) establishes that men are, quite literally, born leaders. The Church claims that women can’t be priests because Jesus wanted it that way. Really? A man didn’t play any role whatsoever in Jesus’ conception (from all accounts, it was sperm-free). Christ came out of a woman’s uterus, which seems to be a pretty important part of the birth story. Jesus’ most trusted disciple was arguably Mary Magdalene. The risen Jesus didn’t show Himself to the fellas at the local mens-only oasis. He first appeared to Mary. Experts believe it was Mary at Jesus’ right in DaVinci’s Last Supper. She wasn’t doing dishes in the back or filling the wine glasses for the boys, she was right next to Mr. Equality Himself.

The wildly dangerous and incredibly pathetic part of religiously based gender bigotry is the critical role it plays in legitimizing the horrific treatment of women in societies throughout the world. Women aren’t equal in the eyes of God, Jesus, Allah, Yahweh, etc., therefore: Cover your face and body or be whipped. You’re forbidden to drive or vote or hold a paying job. Don’t speak, as you are not worthy to be heard. You deserve to be treated like objects or property or animals. It is justified by God that you be beaten or stoned to death simply for being the victim of your own femininity. Face the cold, brutally hard fact that all of your human rights are dependent on what men, not God, feel they should be.

In the Catholic “faith,” women are told to accept that our own religion utilizes every political and legal channel known to man (aided by the money we put in the Sunday collection basket) to prevent us from controlling what happens in our bedrooms or to our bodies. Using God to control women is what we in marketing might call a “Top Down” strategy. Find an expert and leverage his/her position to convince consumers of a “truth.” Unfortunately, God isn’t around to verify the man-made claims in support of gender inequity, or to expose it as the load of crap it most certainly is. I believe God made us equal. We may be different physically, but God sees us as His children. Not as His sons and those other ones, but as His children. Precious. Made in His image.

By attending Catholic mass, I’m tacitly endorsing women’s inequality within the Church. Through my silence, I am agreeing with its calculated discrimination against females. I am supporting a Church that fights to control women’s reproductive choices and is hell bent on ruining the lives of my God-loving gay brothers and sisters. And at the end of the day, I’m going to have to explain to Jesus why I would patronize any organization that doesn’t treat His children equally.

I believe in exacting change from the inside out by trying to make things better rather than abandoning them. However, unless I can find a way to express my opposition to all forms of bigotry within the confines of my Church (wearing a sandwich board, neon sign or set of very large buttons to Mass being viable, short term solutions), I’m going to have to stick by the teachings of my God and sit that pew out.

Sarah O’Leary is a writer, marketing expert and licensed minister. She encourages you to share this and all of her Huffington Posts. Sarah answers all comments made herein, and may be reached via email: sarahathuffpo@gmail.com.

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Joseph H. Canney — Rochester – Post

Joseph Hugh Canney passed away Monday, May 14, 2012, surrounded by his family.

A Catholic Mass of Resurrection will be held Friday, May 18, at 11 a.m. at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Rochester. Visitation will be held one hour before the Mass at St. Francis.

Mr. Canney was born Dec. 10, 1926 in Jamestown, N.D., to B.L. and Kathryn Canney. He graduated from Rochester High School in 1944 and enlisted in the Army on July 1, 1944. He then entered the pre-flight training program at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter. He was united in marriage to Winifred E. Schlitgus on Nov. 11, 1946.

Mr. and Mrs. Canney were long-standing members of St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church. Mr. Canney was employed at the Olmsted Medical Group for 30 years where he retired as the Controller. He played the cornet in the Chatfield Brass Band for many years. He was a member of the Rochester Widowed Persons Group for the last five years.

Mother’s Day Big Day For Catholic Charities

Sunday was the biggest fund-raising day of the year for Catholic Charities.

All Catholic churches in the diocese of Ogdensburg held collections to fund the charity during Sunday’s masses.

Catholic Charities is the agency within the diocese that leads its efforts in helping the poor and others in need.

The appeal is held annually on Mother’s Day and clergy say that’s why it is so important. 

“It is the major fundraiser, if you will, for Catholic Charities,” said Father Donald Robinson, pastor of St. Anthony’s and St. Patrick’s churches in Watertown.

“That’s why the collection is so important, because Catholic Charities needs our support. They do so much for us and the whole north country and the diocese,” Robinson said.

Traditionally, there are two collections during a Catholic mass. Donations from the first go to the parish and the money from the second goes to a different cause each week.