Marguerite Cleary McNulty Remien, age 101, of Glencoe, died March 7, 2019, at her residence. Beloved wife of the late C. Jack Remien and the late Lt. James J. McNulty, Jr., USN; loving mother of Patrick (Betsy Collins) McNulty; cherished step-mother of Carol (Larry) Hunsicker and the late C. Jack (Eunice) Remien, Jr.; dearest grandmother of Pam (Mark) Laventure, Mark (Tracie) Haagensen, Geoffery Hunsicker, Timothy Hunsicker, Eugenie (Josh Vande Hey) Hunsicker, Devin (Jennifer Thaler) and Brennan McNulty; fond sister of Dorothy A. (the late Lathrop) Hoffman, James M. (Ann) Cleary, Jr., Michael (Laura) Cleary, the late Mary Evelyn (the late Bill) Sundlof and the late Jeanne (the late Mick) Goessling.

As her father was asked to take different executive positions in different cities, Marguerite moved frequently in her youth, attending seven different high schools. She was one of the few to attend St. Mary’s in Indiana both for grade school and in college, but she graduated in Journalism from Northwestern University. An editor at the Chicago Journal of Commerce then assured her that he wouldn’t hold that against her and hired her.

Marguerite initially encountered Jim McNulty, her first husband, in second grade at Sacred Heart School in Hubbard Woods. With changing school enrollments, they did not meet again until senior year at New Trier High School, where they eyed each other warily across the corridor.  Their first actual friendship was spawned later, when they accompanied their respective parents to a book discussion group.  By the time they finally married, Jim was a Navy pilot.  About ten days after the birth of their son, he was lost at sea in the Aleutian Islands.  Her second husband, Jack Remien, was a wonderfully kind and patient man.  After “courting” Marguerite for over ten years, she finally agreed to marry him in time for the “Parent’s Weekend” of her son, then a sophomore in college.  They lived happily together for 27 years until Jack’s passing in 1990.  Marguerite remained for her final twenty-eight years in the same house in Glencoe, welcoming several hundreds of friends and family to stay on visits.  She remained there until her death, as she was determined to do.

Friends and family were the most important thing to Marguerite, and friends were typically promoted to family whenever she could find a plausible connection.

Other things Marguerite loved were music and books.  For music, she sang in the church choir at Sts. Faith, Hope, and Charity parish until she was 97. (She drove herself to rehearsals, the State of Illinois finally declining to renew her driver’s license at the age of 99.)

For reading and writing, she was an enthusiastic member of the Winnetka Fortnightly, where she could listen to the writing of others and read her own writing in her turn.  Predictably, her writings were usually entertaining anecdotes about friends and family.  For many years she wrote and edited the annual Appeal for Funds for St. Vincent’s Orphanage in Chicago, as a volunteer.

A Memorial Gathering will be held Tuesday, March 19, 2019 beginning at 10 a.m. followed by Memorial Mass at 11 a.m. at Sts. Faith, Hope & Charity Catholic Church, 191 Linden St., Winnetka.  A reception will follow.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to Saint Mary’s College Development Office, 110 Le Mans Hall, Notre Dame, IN 46556.

Funeral info:  847.673.6111.