Mary C. O'Shaughnessy

Mary C. O'Shaughnessy, 88 of Pekin, Illinois passed away at 1:30 PM Monday, April 9, 2018. Mary was born on April 25, 1929 in Peoria, Illinois to William P. and Irene (Manning) Carty. She married Jack O'Shaughnessy on June 22, 1957 in Peoria. She is preceded in death by her husband and an infant brother. Surviving are five children: Mary (Bernard) Knapp of West Peoria, Kevin (Debbie) O'Shaughnessy of Manito, Michael (Shanna) O'Shaughnessy of Pekin, Susan (Mark) Wilder of Pekin, and Patrick (Trish) O'Shaughnessy of Peoria, fifteen grandchildren, and one great grandchild. Mary was a 1947 graduate of Manual High School and worked as a secretary at Caterpillar in the 1950's. She was a member of St. Joseph Catholic Church. Mary was extremely talented at creating plastic canvas artwork, which she offered at local craft shows with her husband.Her crafts are cherished family heirlooms. Among her other talents was an ability to teach the importance of perception, optimism, empathy, objective thinking, understanding, and forgiveness. If you came to her with a problem, she would immediately set out to help figure the solution (unless it involved snakes, then you were on your own). The skills and talents never end, as perhaps the most mysterious was her magical ability to pull warm cookies out of thin air whenever someone needed comforting. But with every talented person, there is also a dark side - - Mary was a notorious french-fry thief. Any one of her family sharing a meal out at a restaurant with her learned quickly to keep an eye on their plate. Mary's greatest joy was to have her house filled with the smell of good food and the chatter of her children and grandchildren. One of the best measures of describing her as a person was that she would always have an extra place setting available just in case someone arrived unexpectedly, so that they would feel welcome. Likely her only regret in life was that she did not outlive Pete Rose, but she will take solace that neither of them will ever be in the baseball hall of fame. A Mass of Christian Burial will be at 9:30 AM Saturday, April 14, 2018 at St. Joseph Catholic Church with Father Michael Andrejek officiating. Visitation will be from 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM Friday, April 13 at Henderson Funeral Home & Crematory 2131 Velde Dr. Pekin. Additional visitation will be from 8:30 AM - 9:15 AM on Saturday at the church. Burial will be St. Joseph Catholic Cemetery in Pekin. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to a charity of the donor's choice. Cemetery St. Joseph Cemetery Pekin,IL 61554 Funeral Mass Saturday, April 14, 2018 9:30 AM St. Joseph's Catholic Church 303 S. 7th Street Pekin,IL 61554 Visitation Friday, April 13, 2018 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM Henderson Funeral Home and Crematory 2131 Velde Dr. Pekin,IL 61554 Visitation Saturday, April 14, 2018 8:30 AM - 9:15 AM St. Joseph's Catholic Church 303 S. 7th Street Pekin,IL 61554