Elizabeth O'Donnell - 1942-1987

ODONNELL, REDDY, BEALL, BYRNES, KELLY, GAUL, GLASSER

Posted By: Connie Ellis (email)
Date: 2/22/2011 at 19:09:37

SOURCE: Waukon, Iowa WAUKON DEMOCRAT, November 12, 1987
Contributor: Connie Ellis (Not related)

Elizabeth O'Donnell, age 45, of Chicago, Illinois, died Saturday, November 7, 1987 at Weiss Memorial Hospital in Chicago, Illinois. Funeral services were held Wednesday November 11 at 11 a.m. at St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Waukon, Iowa. Burial was in Mt. Olivet Cemetery, Waukon, Iowa with Hanson Funeral Home in charge of arrangements. Casket bearers were Dennis Byrnes, Roger Byrnes, Ed Byrnes, Benjamin Kelly, Patrick Byrnes, and Ted Gaul.

Elizabeth was born February 15, 1942 in New York to Joseph and Cecelia (Reddy) O'Donnell. She graduated in 1963 from Mundelein College in Chicago, Illinois with a BS degree in home economics and in 1978 from Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo with a masters degree in blind rehabilitation. She was a teacher of the blind at Illinois Visually Handicapped Institute in Chicago. She had lived in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Cincinnatti, Ohio, and Chicago, Illinois. In 1983 she received the President's Volunteer of the Year award and in 1985 the Citizen of the Year award from Lerner Newspapers in Chicago for her work with the blind.

She was preceded in death by her parents.

Surviving are a son James Kenneth O'Donnell, a grandson James Anthony O'Donnell and three sisters, Kathleen, Mary, and Joanne.

NOTE: The link to Allamakee County:
Elizabeth was the granddaughter of Patrick Francis and Eva Marie (Beall) Reddy, residents of Waukon, Iowa. Her mother was Cecelia Reddy.
Other Allamakee County residents were her uncle, William Patrick Reddy, and 3 aunts, Mrs. Garland (Mary Frances) Byrnes, Mrs. Lawrence (Catherine) Byrnes, and Mrs. Mike (Margaret) Glasser, in addition to many cousins still living in Allamakee County.