Marilyn Anne Trainor (nee Mooney), 89, of Forest Park, a longtime resident of Oak Park, died on Dec. 17, 2015. Born on July 18, 1926 at St. Anne Hospital in Chicago to Patrick and Lois (Simpson) Mooney, she grew up in St. Frances of Rome Parish in Cicero until the family moved to Oak Park in 1940. She graduated from Trinity High School, then attended Rosary College (now Dominican University) for one year, before entering St. Anne Nursing School. She graduated as an R.N. in 1949, the same year she married Kenneth E. Trainor at St. Edmund Church.
They had six boys in 16 years, all of whom graduated from Ascension School and stayed in Catholic schools all the way through college. In the 1960s, they were active with the Cana Conference for the Chicago Archdiocese.
An active volunteer in the parish, she served as a bereavement minister, minister of care and Eucharistic minister and also a hoofer, at first literally as one half of a stage cow in Ascension’s first musical production, “Cornzapoppin'” in the 1960s. But she was best known for her tap dancing and singing in the annual musical through the ’70s, ’80s, and into the ’90s.
Mostly what she did was create a warm, welcoming and loving home in a big, old Gunderson house on the corner of Jackson and Elmwood for 39 years, providing a foundation of stability during a very turbulent era and giving her children a happy childhood.
Eventually, she returned to work as a nurse in the offices of several doctors. A longtime member of a book group and prayer group, she cared for her husband, who suffered from Parkinson’s disease, for two decades. She lived long enough to delight in her twin great-grandsons, born in 2013.
She put people at ease, treated everyone with respect, and laughed often. She will be remembered most for her smiling Irish eyes.
Marilyn Trainor was the wife of the late Kenneth E.; the mother of Michael, Thomas (Barbara), Kenneth W., Matthew (Anita), Timothy, and William Trainor; the grandmother of Thomas A. (Brianne) and Christopher Trainor, Dylan Trainor, and Bridget (Michael) Ward, Katherine and Mary Therese Trainor; the great-grandmother of Tyler and Bryce Trainor; the sister of the late Patricia (the late John) Thornton; and the aunt and friend of many. The family also thanks Jackie Granberg, Home Care Angels, and Rainbow Hospice for their wonderful care.
Visitation will be held from 3 to 9 p.m., on Tuesday, Dec. 22, at Drechsler, Brown & Williams Funeral Home, 203 S. Marion St., Oak Park. Prayers will be held on Wednesday at 8:45 a.m. Funeral Mass will be celebrated at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 23 at Ascension Church, followed by interment at Queen of Heaven Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, donations to Ascension Parish, 808 S. East Ave., www.ascensionchurch.com, or the American Cancer Society are appreciated.
Arrangements were handled by Drechsler, Brown & Williams.