Obituary: Margaret “Peggy” (Carter) Schodowski 05/12/15

Posted on May 14, 2015 by admin

Margaret "Peggy" (Carty) Schodowski and BB King.

A special memory for Margaret “Peggy” (Carty) Schodowski was meeting BB King.

Schodowski, Margaret “Peggy”; age 49; of Rochester Hills, Mich.; May 12, 2015. Loving mother of Eddie and Hannah; dear daughter of John and Peg Carty; beloved sister of Jeanne (William) Davison and James Carty. Aunt of Austin, Brenna, and James. Special friend of Pat Lubiaz.

Peggy took great pride in giving back to her community. She was instrumental in saving the home of a local Troy family as well as the historical Stiles School in Rochester Hills. She was known for granting yearly Christmas wishes for a daycare center in Detroit and helping people find lost valuables and missing money. She was a proud member of the Rochester Historical Study Committee.

Funeral Mass Friday, May 15, 2015, 11 a.m. with an instate time of 10 a.m. at St. Mary of the Hills, 2675 John R. Road, Rochester Hills. The family will receive friends Thursday 4-8 p.m. at the Potere-Modetz Funeral Home, 339 Walnut Blvd., Rochester.

Service and burial arrangements in Boston, Mass., are as follows:
Monday, May 18
Viewing for all at Dolan’s Funeral Home 460 Granite St., Milton MA.
http://www.dolanfuneral.com/
Viewing is 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Graveside burial service at Milton Cemetery 1:30 p.m.
Reception for attendees at Alba Restaurant 2 -5 p.m.
1486 Hancock St, Quincy, MA 02169
www.albaquincy.com

Suggested memorials to theherofoundation.net or www.cancerfamilyrelieffund.org Online guestbook www.modetzfuneralhomes.com

The following obituary was published in The Patriot Ledger today at: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/southofboston-ledger/obituary.aspx?n=margaret-schodowski&pid=174864050&fhid=4989

Margaret “Peggy” Schodowski, nee Carty, was born April 12, 1966, to Margaret and John Carty in Quincy, Mass., and passed away on May 12, 2015, in peace with her mother by her side. Peggy was a warrior during her 3-year battle with the aggressive colon cancer that eventually took her life.

Her friends and family will remember her courageous spirit and fight to survive. Even on the worst of days, Peggy remained true to her spunky and determined character, never letting a day go by without a laugh. Being near her children, Eddie and Hannah, kept Peggy going during this trying time and she chose to stay close to them even creating bucket list adventures they could all participate in towards the end of her life.

Before Peggy embarked on the fight against cancer, she had a prolific career and public persona. Peggy graduated from SUNY Utica College of Technology with a BS in Computer Science. After years of working at Air Wisconsin/United Express, A C Nielsen, Kmart, Computer Consulting, and Shelving store, she returned to school at Oakland University to pursue paralegal studies. Most recently, she was a legal assistant for Bruce J. Thornburn, Esq. of Troy and also founded her own forensic investigation and research business.

Peggy also took pride in giving back to her community. She was known for granting yearly Christmas wishes for a daycare center in Detroit and helping people find lost valuables and missing money even after all options were seemingly exhausted. Peggy was instrumental in saving the home of a local Troy family as well as the historical Stiles school in Rochester Hills. Peggy was also a proud member of the Rochester Hills Historic Study Committee.

Although Peggy always lived life to the fullest, she gained a renewed appreciation on value of “living” every day to the fullest through her cancer diagnosis. Peggy could not have gotten through the past few years without the love and support of her countless friends at St. Pauls Cancer Group in Rochester.

Peggy is survived by her two children, Eddie and Hannah Schodowski of Rochester Hills, Mich.; her parents, John and Margaret Carty of Park City, Utah; her brother, James Carty and his son James of Norwood, Mass.; her sister, Jeanne (William) Davison and their children Austin and Brenna Davison of Park City, Utah; and her special friend, Pat Lubiaz of Waterford, Mich.

A viewing was held May 14, 2015, at the Potere Modetz Funeral Home, 339 Walnut Blvd., in Rochester, Mich. A funeral Mass of Christian burial was held at St. Mary of the Hills Catholic Church in Rochester Hills.

Peggy will be buried in her hometown of Milton, Mass., in the Milton Cemetery, Monday, May 18, 2015. The family will receive friends Monday from 11 a.m. until the 1 p.m. service at Dolan Funeral Home, 460 Granite Ave., East Milton.

It was Peggy’s request that any assistance be directed to those affected by cancer and their families. Therefore, in lieu of flowers, please find a family/person with cancer and offer assistance of any kind or donate to theherofoundation.net/ or www.cancerfamilyrelieffund. org/. For information and directions, www.dolanfuneral.com.

In Celebration Of A Life: Obituary for Ruth Ann Brown Coxe

Posted on March 26, 2015 by admin

Ruth Anne Brown Coxe, widow of Samuel Hanson Coxe, died Wednesday March 11, 2015 of natural causes. She was 85 and lived at the family’s homestead of an 18th century home, The Captain Thomas Sill House in Old Lyme, Conn.

An early pioneer of ‘Farm to Table,’ Ruth Coxe was an advocate for healthy, local natural foods free of commercially convenient chemistry with unknown health consequences.

Ruth Brown grew up in a prominent family in Mansfield, Conn. Her father Frank Ignatius Brown ran the Spring Brook Ice Manufacturing, supplying all of Eastern Connecticut. As a young girl she loved to romp on her own in nature and enjoyed fishing. She attended Briarcliff Junior College and continued her education to Washington DC and enrolled in the May Boult Interior Design School.

Considering an operatic career, she headed to New York City and studied voice, recording on record for a short time while working at ABC Studio. Advice from a family priest discouraged theatre as it was a risky and risqué business, and she left New York City.

An adventurer at heart, Ruth pointed her car west to San Francisco, Calif., and found employment in a real estate firm. There she met her future husband, Samuel Coxe, Yale Class of 1943 and WWII Pacific Theatre Marine Air Corps. Pilot, then studying Law at the University of San Francisco.

They married in 1959 and began a family. She opened the Grinnell Grinder sandwich shop in the financial district and she became active in the La Leche League of San Francisco. However, pulled back by New England roots, they returned to Old Lyme and Samuel Coxe began his practice in Constitutional Law.

Always a pioneering spirit and active in the La Leche League, Ruth pursued her curiosity around the Major Fred Hargesheimer survival in Papua New Guinea, interviewing the Major and learning more about his experience and survival aided by the people of the Island who nursed him back to health with mothers’ milk.

Prompted to investigate further, in 1970 she headed to Papua New Guinea, New Britain Island with her 7-year-old son Sam to study the habits and diet of the indigenous tribes. She was later joined by her husband, mother-in-law and second son Stanislaus, and her husband began a newspaper on the Island and they remained for a year.

A return to Old Lyme Sill House was followed by her next adventure with the boys to visit Japan, and in 1976 with the children she travels to Dominica Island to study once again the indigenous people and diet. Her sojourn continues to Mexico, Central America, and Peru, schooling her children while on the odyssey.

Tragedy strikes in 1981 when her husband Samuel Coxe dies unexpectedly and she is threatened to lose her home on Sill Lane. Confronted by loss and the auction of her land on the horizon, she reaches out to California friend, Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger, for help. His actions aid her to legally keep her home and remain in the family homestead with her children.

An advocate for the organic movement, Ruth created a recipe for gluten-free, unleavened bread by sprouting wheat and rye berries. The bread called Sill House Bakery Essene Bread sold in New York City and Cambridgem Mass., at the first Whole Foods Markets, delivered by van from her Old Lyme kitchen. Her entrepreneurial skills and instinct put to use in her own kitchen helped her survive widowhood. Always referring to her husband in the most loving and devoted way.