Person:Rita Donovan (1)

Telegraph Herald (Dubuque, IA) - June 3, 2003

BERNARD, Iowa - Rita P. McCarthy, 84, of 159 Bernard Road, Bernard, died at 3 a.m. Sunday, June 1, 2003, at Mercy Medical Center-Dubuque. Services will be at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at St. Patrick's Catholic Church, Garryowen, rural Bernard, with her brother, the Most Rev. Paul Donovan, Rev. Thomas Bisenius, Msgr. William Leonard, and Rev. Phil Gibbs, officiating. Burial will be in the church cemetery. Friends may call from 2 to 8 p.m. today at Leonard Funeral Home & Crematory, 2595 Rockdale Road, where there will be a wake service at 4 p.m. She was born on Nov. 26, 1918, in Bernard, daughter of John and Loretta (Carew) Donovan. She married Vern McCarthy on Nov. 26, 1935, at Assumption Church, Sylvia Switch, rural Zwingle; he died on Jan. 9, 1977. She worked at the Clinton Engine Co. and the Adam's Co. in Dubuque. She was a member of St. Patrick's Church, Garryowen, and its altar and rosary society. She also did volunteer work at the Bernard Area Food Pantry for many years. Surviving are three daughters, Patricia "Patsy" O'Connell, of Bernard, Arlene (Dick) Henneberry, of Cascade, and Janeen (Don) Pape, of Dubuque; a son, John "Jackie" (Mary Jean) McCarthy, of Bernard; 20 grandchildren; three step grandchildren; 41 great-grandchildren; six step great-grandchildren; a brother, the Most Rev. Paul Donovan, of Kalamazoo, Mich.; three sisters, Helen McCarthy, of Dubuque, Maureen Donovan of Bay City, Mich., and Bernadine Clinton, of Grand Rapids, Mich.; and a sister-in-law, Lucille (Shorty) Donovan, of Epworth. She was preceded in death by two brothers, John and Leonard Donovan; two sisters, Maureen Curtis, and an infant sister, Elizabeth; a son-in-law, Ed O'Connell; and a grandson, William O'Connell. A Rita P. McCarthy Memorial Fund has been established.