Obituary for Constance Sullivan "Connie" McCormick
Constance “Connie” Sullivan McCormick
December 18, 1926 - December 10, 2019
Connie was small in stature and huge in heart and soul. She loved her late husband, John G. McCormick, who predeceased her on February 23, 2019. Connie and John forged a partnership that endured for nearly 70 years, making a family with six children, meaningful careers in public health and community service that benefited people in western New York, Boston and the Pittsburgh area.
Connie was proud of, and loyal to her birthplace, Bolivar, New York. She was as comfortable in her grandparents home as her own home with her parents Neil and Mary Sullivan and siblings Pat and Bob. Hogan and Sullivan relatives and childhood adventures were endless in western New York, Canada and Boston. Connie always met a relative wherever her travels took her in the world.
Connie’s curiosity, intelligence and iron will compelled her to try a few colleges before graduating in the first class to earn Bachelor of Science in Nursing degrees at Niagra University in Niagra, New York. In her mid-60s with kids in grade school, high school and college, Connie earned a Masters in Public Health at the University of Pittsburgh. Her passion was community health nursing and her motto was “once a nurse, always a nurse!”
Connie’s career took her from traditional hospital bedside care to school nurse posts, to the Guild for the Blind, to the homes of ill and indigent people all across the Pittsburgh community. Her commitment to social justice was reflected in her unwavering willingness to go anywhere and provide care to anyone in need.
As her children grew, Connie took her experiences and knowledge of nursing to the classroom. Together with her sidekick Ginny Caretto, they team taught community health at Duquesne University, La Roche College, and the University of Pittsburgh. She loved running into former students and to providing advice to those nurses who might not have had the good fortune to be in one of her classes.
John and her surviving children, Catherine Ann, Neil Francis, Margaret McCormick Barron, William Patrick, Timothy Shaun and Patricia Ann Ackerman, were the direct beneficiaries of Connie’s nursing care, along with neighbors, grandchildren and fellow St. Pius parishioners. The nursing satchel was always at the ready.
When not dispensing bandages or more, Connie could be found daily cooking mountains of food, washing mountains of clothes and driving her kids and countless friends to and from school, football practice, band practice, jobs, Dormont Pool, just about anywhere. Somehow, Connie made sure to give each of us as much one-on-one time as she could squeeze into a day. Her love was dispensed liberally and continually through actions, small and large.
When they could get out for a date, Connie and John enjoyed dinner and dancing. Connie enjoyed her evenings with the St. Pius ladies, formally known as the Christian Mothers. She claimed she was not a betting woman but she loved the sulky races at the Meadows. She reminded us regularly that she and her Grandpa Hogan had a running bet on horse races and that she picked a trifecta winner as a small girl. Swimming was a lifelong passion from the cold waters of Cuba Lake to the even colder New England coast to the temperate Dormont Pool.
Despite adamantly proclaiming that she did not like chocolate, her Irish eyes lit up with the offer of a Hershey bar or ice cream with “just little bit of chocolate sauce.” Coffee was a staple but none of the fancy barista brews for Connie, only the basics.
Connie knew and practiced the basics of a good life - love, faith and loyalty. She will be missed by her family and all who had the good fortune to know and love her.
Arrangements by BEINHAUER. Family and friends welcome Friday from 2-4 and 6-8 p.m. at 2828 Washington Rd., McMurray (724-941-3211). A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated in St. Louise de Marillac Church, Saturday at 10:30am. EVERYONE PLEASE MEET AT CHURCH.
December 18, 1926 - December 10, 2019
Connie was small in stature and huge in heart and soul. She loved her late husband, John G. McCormick, who predeceased her on February 23, 2019. Connie and John forged a partnership that endured for nearly 70 years, making a family with six children, meaningful careers in public health and community service that benefited people in western New York, Boston and the Pittsburgh area.
Connie was proud of, and loyal to her birthplace, Bolivar, New York. She was as comfortable in her grandparents home as her own home with her parents Neil and Mary Sullivan and siblings Pat and Bob. Hogan and Sullivan relatives and childhood adventures were endless in western New York, Canada and Boston. Connie always met a relative wherever her travels took her in the world.
Connie’s curiosity, intelligence and iron will compelled her to try a few colleges before graduating in the first class to earn Bachelor of Science in Nursing degrees at Niagra University in Niagra, New York. In her mid-60s with kids in grade school, high school and college, Connie earned a Masters in Public Health at the University of Pittsburgh. Her passion was community health nursing and her motto was “once a nurse, always a nurse!”
Connie’s career took her from traditional hospital bedside care to school nurse posts, to the Guild for the Blind, to the homes of ill and indigent people all across the Pittsburgh community. Her commitment to social justice was reflected in her unwavering willingness to go anywhere and provide care to anyone in need.
As her children grew, Connie took her experiences and knowledge of nursing to the classroom. Together with her sidekick Ginny Caretto, they team taught community health at Duquesne University, La Roche College, and the University of Pittsburgh. She loved running into former students and to providing advice to those nurses who might not have had the good fortune to be in one of her classes.
John and her surviving children, Catherine Ann, Neil Francis, Margaret McCormick Barron, William Patrick, Timothy Shaun and Patricia Ann Ackerman, were the direct beneficiaries of Connie’s nursing care, along with neighbors, grandchildren and fellow St. Pius parishioners. The nursing satchel was always at the ready.
When not dispensing bandages or more, Connie could be found daily cooking mountains of food, washing mountains of clothes and driving her kids and countless friends to and from school, football practice, band practice, jobs, Dormont Pool, just about anywhere. Somehow, Connie made sure to give each of us as much one-on-one time as she could squeeze into a day. Her love was dispensed liberally and continually through actions, small and large.
When they could get out for a date, Connie and John enjoyed dinner and dancing. Connie enjoyed her evenings with the St. Pius ladies, formally known as the Christian Mothers. She claimed she was not a betting woman but she loved the sulky races at the Meadows. She reminded us regularly that she and her Grandpa Hogan had a running bet on horse races and that she picked a trifecta winner as a small girl. Swimming was a lifelong passion from the cold waters of Cuba Lake to the even colder New England coast to the temperate Dormont Pool.
Despite adamantly proclaiming that she did not like chocolate, her Irish eyes lit up with the offer of a Hershey bar or ice cream with “just little bit of chocolate sauce.” Coffee was a staple but none of the fancy barista brews for Connie, only the basics.
Connie knew and practiced the basics of a good life - love, faith and loyalty. She will be missed by her family and all who had the good fortune to know and love her.
Arrangements by BEINHAUER. Family and friends welcome Friday from 2-4 and 6-8 p.m. at 2828 Washington Rd., McMurray (724-941-3211). A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated in St. Louise de Marillac Church, Saturday at 10:30am. EVERYONE PLEASE MEET AT CHURCH.