February 3, 2005

OBITUARIES

Tom F. Vondruska

Thomas (Tom) F. Vondruska died at his home in Yellow Springs on Saturday, Jan. 29, after battling Parkinson’s disease for many years. He was 49.

He was born on Sept. 18, 1955, in Dayton, the son of Joseph and Barbara (Reeder) Vondruska. He was a graduate of Colonel White High School in Dayton, attended Ohio University and graduated from Wright State University.

Tom had worked as a reporter for the Xenia Daily Gazette and had served as a volunteer member of the Miami Township fire department. He was a member of the First Baptist Church in Dayton and a former member of the Yellow Springs Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

Even in retirement, after the onset of his illness, Tom remained active as an investigative journalist, as a member of the Village Human Relations Commission, and as an advocate for a range of civic issues, in general, and for freedom of travel and access to public places for persons with limited mobility in particular.

Vondruska was involved in almost every political issue that arose in Yellow Springs in the last dozen years, said Ellis Jacobs, who said he met Vondruska 30 years ago in Dayton in a manner that “probably had something to do with politics.”

For a number of years, Vondruska regularly attended Village Council meetings, where he would often express his opinions on issues before Council. In recent years, he lobbied the Village on accessibility issues, asking the government to repair and add ramps to sidewalks.

But his interest in politics was not limited to local issues, Jacobs said, noting that Vondruska became an “outspoken advocate” for universal access to health care and health insurance.

In an interview with the News last May, Vondruska discussed what it’s like to live with Parkinson’s disease. He said that he had resolved to do everything he could to resist letting the condition take over his life.

“Parkinson’s is a use-it-or-lose-it type of thing, and I have to be active because I saw what happened to my father,” who also had the disease, Vondruska said.

Jacobs said he admired the way Vondruska “was determined to live a full life despite his illness.”

Tucker Malishenko, who as the coordinator of the Village Mediation Program had worked frequently with Vondruska, said that he will remember Tom for “his spirit and his inability to ever give up.”

“He struggled to stay alive and he fought to be with people because he was a people person,” Malishenko said.

Malishenko said that when he started working with Vondruska in the fall of 2003 he was “fighting for survival everyday with almost no care.” But lately things had been improving for Tom, and Malishenko said, “he had more care and people in his life.” The day before he died, Vondruska had started writing the first chapter of a book on his life, Dancing Without Music.

“Tom was a great guy, he had a terrific spirit, he had a passion for life and social justice,” Jacobs said.

Tom was preceded in death by his parents.

He is survived by his sons, Eben and Maxwell of Xenia; his brothers and sisters-in-law, Joseph and Carol Vondruska of Elyria and Eric and Jane Vondruska of Eureka, Mo.; and two nephews, Jeffrey and Steven Vondruska of Elyria.

A memorial service for Tom will be held at a date to be announced. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Thomas Vondruska Memorial Fund at the U.S. Bank, 266 Xenia Avenue, Yellow Springs. Arrangements are being handled by the Jackson Lytle & Williams Funeral Home in Yellow Springs.

Bruce Samuel Corrigan

Bruce Samuel Corrigan of Xenia Township died Thursday, Jan. 27, at Greene Memorial Hospital. He was 72.

Bruce was born Sept. 9, 1932, in Yellow Springs, the son of Joseph E. and Helen (Issler) Corrigan.

Bruce lived nearly his entire life in Greene County, much of it growing up on the family farm and attending St. Brigid School in Xenia. He did leave Greene County to serve in the U.S. Army during the Korean War.

Upon returning home, he married his fiancée, Rita “Marie” (Donley), who he had met at St. Paul Church and through her work at Furray’s Department store in Yellow Springs. Over the 51 years of their marriage, Bruce was employed as a Greene County deputy sheriff and at the American Red Cross in Xenia.

Bruce was preceded in death by his parents and his brother, Joseph E. Corrigan.

He is survived by his wife, Rita Marie Corrigan; his daughters, Victoria “Vicki” Corrigan of Xenia and Margaret “Peggy” Corrigan of Fairborn; a close family friend and cousin, Rita (Corrigan) Tobias of Xenia; four grandchildren; six great-grandchildren; 12 nieces and nephews; and other extended family members.

Bruce personally requested and arranged private services for the convenience of his family and the arrangements were entrusted to McColaugh Funeral Home of Xenia. In lieu of flowers, his family has requested that memorial donations be made to the American Red Cross.

Mae Alexander

Mae A. Alexander of Yellow Springs died Thursday, Jan. 27. She was 86.

Born Oct. 18, 1918, in Ottawa, Ill., she was one of 16 children born to Henry and Ida Pitstick. She was an active square dancer and helped teach square dancing to many others. She was an expert seamstress who made clothing for herself, her children and her grandchildren. She had a beautiful sense of color. She also gardened, canned and cooked at the Alexander family farm.

Mae moved to Yellow Springs when she married Joe Alexander on Thanksgiving Day in 1954, two years after the death of his wife, Mae’s sister, Zita. Together they raised Joe’s and Zita’s five children who were then between the ages of 2 to 9.

In their retirement, Mae and Joe moved into their new home on the farm property, built by their son, Mike, with a view of the old farm and the woods. She loved to sit at her kitchen window watching the snow, birds, deer, crops and trees change with the seasons.

Mae tenderly cared for her husband and had a love and kindness for all her children and especially her 11 grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her husband of 42 years, Joe Alexander; four brothers, Edmund Peter, Bernard Jerome, Peter Aloysius and Richard Andrew; and four sisters, Rose Anna, Zita Helen, Charlotte Ida and Marilyn Theresa.

She is survived by her children and their spouses, Jeannie and Tom Sewell, Mike and Debbie Alexander, Pat and Lucy Alexander, Rita and Rob Hoffmann and Mark and Peggy Alexander; her grandchildren and their partners, Laura and Luis Martinez-Sewell, Charlie, Mary and Leesa Alexander, Andrea Harmison, Chris, Jay and Elise Alexander, Kirsten and Kate Hoffmann, and Rebecca Kuder and Robert Wexler; and siblings Lawrence Conrad, Rita Marie, Vincent Henry, Paula Henrietta, Hubert William, Marjorie Ruth and Edwin Joseph.

A funeral mass was held Monday, Jan. 31, at St. Paul Catholic Church, and burial followed at St. Paul Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, contributions in Mae Alexander’s memory many be made to Miami Township Fire-Rescue.

Datie C. Page

Datie C. Page of Yellow Springs died on Tuesday, Jan. 18. She was 70.

She was born Aug. 24, 1934, the daughter of William and Gladys Caruthers of Wilson County, Tenn. She was the salutatorian of her graduating class at Pearl High School in Nashville. She graduated with honors again in 1958 when she received her degree in nursing from Meharry Medical College. She became a registered nurse, yet her academic quest led her to pursue postgraduate work in public health at the University of Minnesota and in psychiatric nursing at the University of Cincinnati.

On Sept. 7, 1960, Datie married her husband, Ervin N. Page. The union gave them four children. She was a member of Chapel Three at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

Datie’s professional career included staff nurse at various hospitals and care facilities, instructor of nursing at a community college, and mentor and teacher as a member of the Job Corp staff. She earned adoration and respect from her co-workers, patients and students. Her strong Christian faith, easy smile and warm spirit endeared her to people wherever she was.

She is survived by her husband; her children, Dawn, Kenneth, Martin and Lisa, and Carol; grandson, Marcus Nelson; sisters-in-law and their spouses, Carolyn and Frank Drew of Martinsville, Va., Delores and Bill Riddick of Raleigh, N.C., and Wanda and Dan Tallakson of Severn, Md.; brother-in-law and his spouse, Kenneth and Katherine Page of Baltimore, Md.; and a host of other relatives and friends.

Services were held Sunday, Jan. 23, at Williamson Chapel CME Church in Old Hickory, Tenn. Internment was in Greenlawn Cemetery in Old Hickory.