Anne Theresa Cavanaugh, 97, passed away peacefully Saturday, April 3, 2021, at her home in Arlington Heights, Ill. She was born to Agnes and Thomas Brodnan, immigrants from Czechoslovakia, on December 4, 1923, in Arlington Heights. The family spoke Slovak at home, and belonged to St. James Parish, where Anne attended grade school, winning the American Legion School Medal for "courage, character, service, companionship, and scholarship" in 1938. She graduated from Arlington High School in 1942, working weekends at her cousin Sadecky's grocery shop on North Dunton Avenue. Later she commuted by train to jobs at Montgomery Ward's in Chicago and Park Lane Drycleaners in Park Ridge. She married Peter Patrick Cavanaugh, an army veteran and linotype operator for Chicago newspapers, on April 24, 1947. The couple had two children.
A talented homemaker, Anne balanced motherhood with her return to work in 1958, this time for Paddock Publications, where she was employed until her retirement in 1980. She was an ace bookkeeper and secretary, much appreciated for her supreme competence and efficiency—and for supplementing the morning board meetings she organized with blueberry muffins still warm from her oven. Her salary covered the mortgage on the home that she and her husband built on the same block on South Mitchell Avenue where Anne had spent her childhood. The Cavanaughs belonged to the nearby church of Our Lady of the Wayside, from the time of its founding in 1952. Anne was a devoted parishioner, delighting in the many friendships she formed at Sunday mass over the years.
She walked to church, as she always did to the office, the library, grocery, dentist, and hairdresser. Her town and her neighborhood were everything to her. Annual parades, picnics, graduations, and block parties never ceased to bring her joy. She responded to neighborliness with frequent gifts of homemade soups, cakes, and fudge. Her homespun creativity was not limited to the kitchen. She took pleasure in crafting her own greeting cards to friends and family; these thoughtful notes typically came with jokes or cartoons she clipped and loved to share, believing strongly that humor was beneficial to health. Indeed, laughter and wit were among her many memorable qualities, along with her warmth and unending personal generosity.
Anne is survived by her daughter, Sue Cavanaugh Taylor, of Portland, Ore., and by her son, Tom Cavanaugh (Debbie) of Marengo, Ill.; by three grandchildren, Jeff Taylor (Yunxia Ma) of Jersey City, N.J., Kristen Cavanaugh of Lone Tree, Col., and Danny Cavanaugh (Tiffany) of Rockford, Ill.; and by a great-grandson, Hong Taylor. She was predeceased by her husband (d. Nov. 21, 2006) and by her siblings Vera Garlick (Shelly), Louis Brodnan (Charlotte), Hermie Wille (Melvin), Joseph Brodnan (Marge), and Austin Brodnan (Joanne). She will be interned next to her late husband at Memory Gardens Cemetery in Arlington Heights. Arrangements are being made by Lauterburg and Oehler Funeral Home, Arlington Heights, though no service is planned during the pandemic.
The family will be forever grateful to Anne's compassionate caregivers during the last months of her life, Mary Genevieve, Antonine, and Francia Pressard of Roselle, Ill. Memorial donations may be made to the JourneyCare Foundation, 2050 Claire Ct., Glenview, Ill. 60025, or online at www.journeycare.org.
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