Lucille Mary Muldoon

Our mother, who died last Monday after a short illness, was born almost a century ago, on what were then the rural southern fringes of Milwaukee County. The first child of Adolph and Anne Dirksmeyer (ne Graettinger), she was soon followed by a sister, Marie, who became her companion in a childhood full of imagination and adventure. Her love of nature and talent for making her own fun probably first developed then. In later life she could be very stern on the topic of boredom: it was for people with weak imaginations. Together she and Marie attended a one-room school and, after the family had moved into the city, went to Milwaukees St Marys Academy. Our mother went to college at Marquette where her deep religious faith, love of the theater, gift for friendship and huge capacity for hard work developed together: these were the war years and she combined full-time work with full-time study, eventually writing a Masters thesis about Thornton Wilder, whose plays and novels she loved. After completing her studies she moved to Louisville, Kentucky where she worked as the Speech and Drama teacher at Ursuline College, a catholic school for girls. She met our father, Thomas Edward Muldoon, through the Catholic Theater Guild and when she returned to Milwaukee he followed. They were married in July of 1955. For most of her career she taught English at South Milwaukees Senior High School, running the student newspaper, the Harbinger, and directing plays. She developed into a teacher of rare talent and generosity. Students were often at our house and, although we were too young to realise it, she was, at the height of her powers, simply magnificent: a life-changing teacher whose closest students remained her friends for the rest of her life. She was also a terrific parent with a fine line in self-deprecating wit. One of her favourite stories was about a stint as a cub-scout den-mother when she delivered an unintentionally vivid lesson in how not to use a packet knife: Dont whittle towards yourself or Mark, could you get me a band-aid?When she retired from South Milwaukee in 1985 she became a volunteer naturalist at Wehr Nature Center. Retirement also allowed for new adventures, first with the Peace Corps in the Philippines and then on to the kinds places she had dreamed of visiting since childhood. From Beijing to Machu-Pichu to St. Petersburg, she loved to travel: she last crossed the Atlantic in 2012, when she was 90. In 2010 she moved to Oshkosh to be nearer Maureen.She is survived by her sister Marie (Roger) Evanoff , by her children Maureen and Mark Muldoon (Susanne Langer) and by her grandson Mattias Langer-Muldoon as well as two nieces, three nephews and their children.A visitation will be held Saturday, 25 April at Bella Vista, 631 Hazel Street in Oshkosh, from 1:30 to 3:00, followed by a brief memorial service. In lieu of flowers, we would like her friends to make a donation to the Nature Conservancy of Wisconsin or to the South Milwaukee Retired Teachers Scholarship Fund. For the latter, checks payable to the SMSR Scholarship Fund should be sent to School District of South Milwaukee, 901 15th Avenue, South Milwaukee WI, 53172

Bella Vista



631 Hazel St.
Oshkosh
WI
54901

00:00.0
1:30-3:00



Bella Vista



631 Hazel St.
Oshkosh
WI
54901

00:00.0
03:00



Holy Sepulcher




Cudahy
WI