On Wednesday, 24 March , 2021, Liljen Roennow McCormack, of Cedar Park, Texas, loving wife and mother of two, retired multilingual secretary, passed away peacefully in the company of her children at the age of 89.
Liljen was born on 23 March, 1932 in Herning, Jutland, Denmark to Morten Fredegod and Anna Kristine Roennow. She trained as a multilingual secretary, gaining fluency in English, German, French, and Spanish in addition to her native Danish, as well as short-hand in English and German. She worked at the Danish Foreign Mission in Copenhagen and Rio de Janeiro, and served as secretary to both the Danish ambassador to Russia and the Danish ambassador to the United Nations in New York. She married J. Eliot McCormack, Jr from Flushing, New York on April 11, 1964 and raised a son, Scott, and daughter, Christina, in New York.
Liljen and Eliot shared a passion for travel, visiting Denmark, Spain, Mexico, Switzerland, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Peru, Bermuda, the Caribbean, as well as many parts of the United States and Canada. Her character was defined by her strong dedication to family, her warmth and welcoming nature, and her insistence on seeing the good in other people, and ensuring that they saw it as well, from clients looking for fashion advice, to young volunteers at her Legacy Crystal Falls home looking for career advice.
Liljen adopted Eliot’s love of sailing, taking the tiller in Long Island Sound, New York or Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island when Eliot could be found below deck repairing engines, or at the top of the mast, untangling lines and stays.
Liljen was preceded in death by her father, Morten; her mother, Anna Kristine; her husband, Eliot; brother Jorgen-Eilert; and sisters, Isabelle and Gitte. She is survived by her sister, Elena, her two children, Scott and Christina, and her five grandchildren.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you consider a donation to the Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy Program at Mass General Hospital. For more information, please go to this website:
https://because.massgeneral.org/LiljenRonnowMcCormack
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