Nancy Ann Switalski

Nancy Ann McDonnell, age 96, was the 3rd of 4 children born to John Francis “Six” McDonnell and Edith Josephine Engle McDonnell. Six was a professional baseball pitcher, WWI vet, and grew up with President Eisenhower in Abilene, Kansas. Edith played basketball wearing a uniform of woolen bloomers for one of the first women’s teams in the State of Kansas. Nancy was born and raised in Salina, where Six worked as a printer and Edo was a teacher, dry goods clerk, and homemaker. At 10 years old, Nancy appointed herself mother of her baby brother, Joe. She was an accomplished swimmer, diver, musician, thespian, cheerleader, and baton twirling majorette. She was also beautiful.

After graduating from Sacred Heart High in Salina, she left Marymount College in 1948 with a BA in Mathematics and a handful of god-awful cheerleading routines with which she would entertain her bewildered children for many years. Nancy left Kansas because she met Norbert Switalski, star 3rd baseman and leadoff hitter for the 1947 Western Association champion Salina Blue Jays. They were married in 1950 and moved to Detroit, settling in Roseville where Nancy taught school and had babies, 7 in all. She continued teaching in Roseville as a substitute and was well known to generations of Roseville High faculty and students as the “Super Sub” who could teach any subject from English to Shop Math.

Nancy was a daughter true to her Scots-Irish heritage. She impressed Polish father-in-law John Switalski by trading shots and beers with him in his Detroit basement as part of a cultural exchange. Decades later, during sister-in-law Loretta’s wake, nephew Tom Switalski took his coat off and sat back down when Nancy ordered a bourbon and coke at last call, with the words, “I am not going to let my 85-year old aunt drink me under the table.” Nancy led an annual station wagon pilgrimage on Route 66 with Norb and the kids to Topeka to spend summer vacation with grandparents Edo & Six, wowing her children with her famed jackknife dive off the high board at the City Pool and shooting Roman Candles on July 4th onto West 13th street. When her parents grew infirm, she moved them to Michigan, housing and nursing her mother until her death at age 97.

Life wasn’t easy with little money and 4 kids within 4 years of marriage, but Nancy kept things interesting with her wit and style. Norb and Nancy had monthly club parties, rotating at the homes of Norb’s childhood buddies. When it was the Switalski turn to host, Nancy pulled out all the stops, with epic Halloween costume parties, or transforming the house into a Hawaiian Luau. Her imagination transformed our home with the help of some colored paper, elbow grease and staples. For over 60 years, she played Bridge with the gals every Thursday. She sent hilarious invitations to famous people she wanted to play bridge with, like Deng Xiaoping, George Clooney, or Omar Shariff. She was always organizing Derby pools, sending for Series Tickets, celebrating Cinco de Mayo, a Renaissance Xmas, and World Cup ethnic meals. With Norb she helped throw dinner dances in the Sacred Heart gym. She organized a Book Club with a typically eclectic group of friends of all ages and read 3 books at a time for years. She went to the Derby, the Preakness, and drug a protesting Mickey along to play the Old Course in St. Andrews. She was forever creating games, quizzes and egg-coloring contests for every family gathering. Her nephew’s wife Carol said that every Family gathering she went to was 100 times better when Nancy was there.

She and Norb shed most of the kids by the 1970s, and began to enjoy a few trips to Europe, Hawaii, and around the USA, thanks to 2 of their daughters being stewardesses. They went with the DiGiovannis and the Kubiets to Italy for 3 weeks. Life was good. Then Norb died suddenly of a heart attack in 1981. Her family was devastated, but Nancy showed her resolve and remade her life for 41 years. She went back to school and became a computer-savvy secretary, working for Nickel & Saph until her late 80s. She kept a revolving door open to her offspring, who took full advantage, did weekly movie nights with pal Maureen Mott, and ran the home, making youngest son Matt’s daily brown bag lunch well into his 30s. She was not a babysitter. She raised her own 7. She had been there, done that. But she was a devoted mother and grandmother who bought grandson Liam a Robin Hood suit complete with tights and working bow & arrows, and wrote and performed him a song about Robin Hood. She organized The Frank (Sinatra) Club with granddaughter Sofia and made her President. She got her daughter Edye a fall when she was self-conscious about her thin hair, and dropped everything to attend birthday parties, communions, and graduations. She always made an entrance, replete with stylish outfits and over the top hats. Nancy was the life of the party. But it wasn’t all fun and games. She and daughter Moe took a 3-day trip to The Southern Poverty Law Center in Georgia to celebrate its 40th anniversary. Nancy was ever the teacher. A lifelong Catholic, true fulfillment came when she got to read the part of God during the Easter Vigil mass as a commentator at Sacred Heart.

Nancy was a prolific writer, publishing a book of her correspondence, Echoes of the Past, and a 2-volume Autobiography, I Used to be a Person Myself. She hosted an extravagant book signing at the Anton Art Center in Mount Clemens with hors d’oeuvres, champagne, and raspberry filled chocolate cups. Nancy was in her glory. She also was editor of the house organ of the Roseville Democratic Committee, Donkey Tracks, which she conceived and created.

Nancy was active in her community and in politics. She served on the Sacred Heart Parish Council, and was appointed to the Roseville City Council, serving 2 years before losing in the Council election of 1977. Her memorable letter to the Macomb Daily after the defeat displayed the steely confidence for which she was famous. “Many people have called to express sorrow for me at my loss. Please do not feel sorry for me. I lost nothing but an election. Everything that was important to me I already had.” This is a sentiment completely alien to today’s identity politics. Nancy was totally comfortable in her own identity, which no person or thing could take away. Social validation came from within for her. “At the risk of sounding conceited,” she concluded, “I will say—as I always do—exactly what I feel: The loss is Roseville’s, not mine.” Wow. Those are the words of someone completely secure in their own skin. Understand them and you will understand Nancy Switalski.

She did not take her bat and ball and go home. She served for many years on the City’s Beautification Commission, as Chairperson, and helped improve the City with her trademark dedication and creativity. She blazed a trail that her 3 sons followed, each enjoying long and successful careers in politics. The Macomb Daily’s Frank DeFrank called her the Matriarch of the Switalski Clan, the “Kennedys of Roseville,” with 3 sons all holding elective office in the Circuit Court and State Senate, and a nephew in the State House. It all started with Nancy.

After her 90th birthday, her health began to fail, and slowly her memory began to dim. At 93 she still had game, but her stamina was short, and she was on oxygen 24/7. Dominoes replaced cards, but she continued writing and entertaining her family and friends with her piano playing. She needed more and more help doing the crosswords. She was aware of her decline, and as she watched those she loved around her pass, she said, “There is such a thing as living too long.” Still, she survived COPD, a ruptured spleen, pneumonia, and even Covid this spring. She graduated from hospice, with honors, and lived another 14 months. As daughter Jeannie marveled, “She is tough to kill!” She lived her last 13 years with son Mickey and his wife Roma, but was frequently in the company and care of her children and grandchildren, who loved her to the end. Her passing came suddenly, but not unexpectedly, dying peacefully in her sleep surrounded by her sons and Roma.

She is survived by her 2 brothers, Larry McDonnell (Artiss), Joseph B. McDonnell (Carol), 7 children, Mark (Jodi), Katy Van der Veer (David), Jean Marie Davis (Mike), Mickey (Roma), Monica Krebs, Edye Wright (Larry), and Matthew (Rebecca), 20 grandchildren and 12 great grandchildren and many treasured nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her husband Norbert Switalski and brother Chris McDonnell.

Visitation will be at Kaul Funeral Home in St. Clair Shores on Thursday, May 26 from 3-9 pm. A funeral mass will be celebrated at St. Peters in Mount Clemens, with Nancy in state from 10:30 am and mass beginning at 11:30 am. Burial will be the following day at 10 am at Resurrection Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be sent to The Southern Poverty Law Center or the Roseville Public Library, two of Nancy’s favorites.