Silver Story: Mary Celestine Kennedy
Meeting Miss Mary is a treat. At 99 years of age, she continues to have a fantastic sense of humor and is a loyal cat lover. Mary was born in 1925 on a small farm near Henry, Il and was the 5th of 5 daughters. Mary tells of several situations in her life that she was not expected to survive the illness, but somehow, she did! She says her dad would tell her that she was" too mean to die" or "the devil didn't want her"! Those of us who know her, know that this was just a tease. Mary is feisty for sure, but has a kind, caring heart.
Mary said she was born as a “blue baby” and was not expected to live, but with lots of love and attention, she survived infancy and from her stories, was quite the rambunctious child! She liked to stay up late, and her dad would call her his “Owl Hoot!” She would jump the fence between yards and steal green apples from a neighbor; she said her stomachache from eating them was punishment enough! When she was just 5 years old, she climbed up and got into the bathroom cabinet and took some of the pills there because she thought it was candy. She somehow made it through that. Then when Mary was 15, she had an infected appendix that did not get taken out quickly enough and infection spread throughout her body. This was before antibiotics. Again, she survived this! Mary is an avid cat person; perhaps she also has 9 lives! Mary said she never smoked cigarettes because one Halloween she tried to smoke a cigar and it made her so sick, she never wanted to smell smoke again. She said she never drank alcohol because whenever she was sick, her mom gave her hot whiskey to drink, and Mary did NOT like the taste of it.
One of Mary’s favorite stories of her mother was that her mom taught her people have different colors of skin because God used different colors in the crayon box when He made them. Another memory was taking the horse and buggy to visit relatives and it would take all day.When asked about her memories of the depression, Mary said the hardest part was a lack of food, even on the farm. When asked about her memories of WWII, Mary said that she lost a lot of friends. One of Mary’s favorite things to do was to roller skate. When she went to a rollerskating rink, she did not like it because “all they do is go around and around”! Mary preferred to go on the street and on long skate adventures.
When she became an adult, Mary’s dream was to join a convent and be a nun. She did take her first set of vows, but 3 years later, it was decided that it was best for her to not take her final vows. Mary kept trying, but eventually she decided to accept the discernment of the convents and turned to caring for her father after her mom passed away and working for a living. She and her father moved to Lincoln. In Lincoln, Mary worked as a housecleaner. She worked as a waitress for one day, but said she got fired because she could not remember the orders without writing them down! She and her father then moved to Peoria, rented a small boarding room, and Mary went to work. She worked in the nursery at the Guardian Angel Home taking care of infants and toddlers and has some very fond memories of the children she cared for there. Later she worked at OSF Saint Francis Hospital. Mary worked in the laundry room for 33 years! She says she only missed 3 days off of work in all those years! On one snowy day, she walked the 12 blocks to work from where she lived and when she arrived at the hospital, she was the only one besides her boss that made it into work! Her boss was so grateful that he gave her a ride home; Mary said it took a long time to drive her home and that she could have made it faster walking! Her job in the laundry room was to iron the Sisters’ clothing. Mary said she was very good friends with the OSF Sisters. She said it got quite hot in the laundry room and a couple of times she fainted. After about 30 years of doing this work, she was transferred and worked in food service, because it was not so hot in the kitchen
Her best accomplishment is "being Catholic" and her message to the next generation is to "Have faith!" and “Find the good and have fun!”. When asked what the biggest change she noticed through her years, Mary thinks it was change from the horse and buggy to the automobile. Mary did not ever drive, but she would help some of her friends to take the bus to get to their church because Mary would go with them.
Spending time with someone who has lived a full 99 years, who has such a spicy sense of humor and a way of seeing things the way truly are, is a blessing. Miss Mary is a delight to her family and Graceland Center is honored with her sharing her life story.