advertisement

Barrington volunteer proves that age really is just a number

Walking into a bar and finding a 103-year-old woman sipping a beer probably happens once in a blue moon.

Yet on Sunday at Barrington's Wool Street Grill, Marie Schaack, who was born four years after her favorite baseball team, the Chicago Cubs, last won a World Series, was seated at a table sipping on a glass of Blue Moon.

Mark Green, owner of the restaurant, said she comes in about three or four times a month and is definitely his oldest customer.

“If we have one older, I don't know,” he said.

Schaack, a Barrington resident, was honored at the restaurant Sunday for her volunteer work at JourneyCare, a hospice organization based in the village.

She began volunteering for JourneyCare, then known as Hospice of Northeastern Illinois, in 1987, after the death of her husband, George, who had been a patient there.

Brian McCarthy, a representative of U.S. Rep. Peter Roskam, was on hand at the ceremony.

“This is definitely a special occasion for somebody that has given so much to the community,” he said

Roskam, who was unable to make the ceremony, read her accomplishments into the Congressional Record on July 25, 2014.

Schaack sat at a table surrounded by friends, colleagues and family. On the table sat a cake bearing an inscription that referred to her as a “rock star.”

“It's overwhelming,” she said of all the attention. “I had to wait 103 years for all this.

“Everybody thinks I should be senile, but I'm not,” she added.

Even as her senses diminish with age, her energy is unflagging.

“I do a lot of reading,” she said. “I have a magnifying machine ... and the lady next door brings me books from the library.”

Aside from some hearing loss and macular degeneration, as well as her gray hair, Schaack is still in essence the same woman who danced at Chicago's Aragon Ballroom, where met her future husband. They married in 1945 while George was on leave from the Navy.

Growing up the oldest of four children downstate, Schaack helped her parents with their grain farm. Work continued to be a theme in her life.

After graduating from high school, she moved to Chicago and worked as a housekeeper. While her son was a teenager, she got a job at Motorola on Augusta Boulevard in Chicago, working up to a supervisor position during her 12-year career there.

But she found her ultimate calling as a volunteer in the 1980s.

“My husband was one of the first (hospice) patients in 1984,” she said. “And they were so good to him and helped me so much that I wanted to give something back.”

Her duties have included speaking at churches about what hospice meant to her.

Jan Farrell, who recently retired as volunteer coordinator for JourneyCare, said Schaack's work has been invaluable.

“She is amazing,” she said. “She is sharp. She can't hear. She can't see. But she can remember things from years back that I have forgotten. She's sharper than most 80-year-olds.”

Schaack still lives on her own, although her 67-year-old son, Robert, lives on the same street.

“This is the only way I can keep an eye on her — and unfortunately she keeps an eye on me,” Robert said.

As far as plans for the future are concerned, Schaak said she'll take things day by day.

When asked if he is encouraged by his mother's durability, Robert Schaack said, “I don't really pay too much attention to that. I think your ticket is punched when you're born. But it doesn't hurt to have that longevity in your family.”

  Marie Schaack doesn't let her age - 103, to be exact, stop her from volunteering at JourneyCare in Barrington. She was honored Sunday for her 27 years of service to the hospice. Mark Welsh/mwelsh@dailyherald.com, 2014
Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.