Marion Flynn, corporate banker with passion for community service, dies at 69; staunch advocate for women in Catholic priesthood
“She lived a life of service. She knew from an early age that she was called to be a priest. Although the institutional church didn’t recognize her vocation, the rest of us watched her live that vocation every day of her life,” said her best friend, Eileen Heineman.
"There was not a social justice or community service organization in her North Shore community Marion Flynn wouldn’t volunteer with, advocate for, or throw support behind.
"It was the nature of a woman who felt called to the priesthood and spent many years advocating for women to be ordained in the Catholic Church — an issue that continues to roil the church.
After 33 years as a corporate banker, Ms. Flynn retired in 2007 as senior vice president at Bank of America, after serving as a vice president at Continental Bank. But retirement was just a word to Flynn, who promptly expanded the volunteer work she’d done for years, into a second career of community service that continued up until she was too ill.
Ms. Flynn died Oct. 8, after a battle with Parkinsons disease. She was 69.
“She would most want to be remembered for her charity work. It was important to her,” her only child, James Price, said of her work with myriad nonprofits.
Ms. Flynn worked with Meals On Wheels Northeastern Illinois/Meals at Home; YWCA Evanston/North Shore; Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center; Child Restoration Outreach (CROSO), educating street children in Uganda; the Open Communities, a fair housing agency; and North Shore United Way and United Way of Evanston.
A longtime Evanston resident, she was a member of St. Nicholas Church for more than 30 years, serving over the years as church treasurer, on just about every council and committee; as door greeter and lector; and co-founder of its #LGBTQ ministry ....
Read Maudlyne's full story here.
Here's the livestream from her memorial service, which took place last night at St. Nicholas.
Comments