Parents agree to share Wheaton missionary's ashes, end lawsuit
The parents of Meghan Liddy have agreed, according to a court order, to share the Wheaton missionary's ashen remains and end a contentious lawsuit filed Jan. 17 in DuPage County.
Liddy, 25, died Nov. 2 from malaria she contracted while in Ghana.
According to the lawsuit, the divorced couple, David and Mary Ann Liddy, originally agreed Meghan's ashes would be split evenly between them and interred with each of them when they die.
But the lawsuit, filed by David Liddy, claimed Mary Ann violated the agreement by making arrangements to have all of Meghan's remains sent to her sister, Trisha Hume-Steele, in Omaha, Nebraska, with the ultimate intention of eventually having them buried there with Mary Ann.
Hume-Steele on Tuesday called the legal action a misunderstanding between grieving ex-spouses.
Within a week of David Liddy filing the suit to have half the remains returned to Wheaton, Hume-Steele, through her attorney, agreed to do so and sent a portion of the ashes to David's attorney, John Pcolinski.
But until Monday, Mary Ann had refused to sign the same agreed order, preventing Pcolinski from giving the ashes to David.
Court documents show Mary Ann Liddy also refused the order by not answering her door last month, causing Pcolinski to ask a judge to allow him to serve her through alternative means, including regular mail service and posting a notice in a newspaper.
"That motion apparently prompted a call from (Hume-Steele) who told me Mary Ann had reconsidered and was willing to sign the order I attached to my earlier email," Pcolinski said Tuesday. "Mary Ann signed it, had it notarized and sent it to me via facsimile. I am pleased that this has been completed."
Both parents now agree half Meghan's remains were buried in Ghana before the lawsuit. The agreement also allows Pcolinski to release David's portion of the ashes. David said he will be picking them up at 1 p.m. Wednesday.
Mary Ann previously vowed to never sign the agreement or participate in the litigation, citing an already contentious divorce and criticizing David's parenting in the years before Meghan's death.
She could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Meghan first visited Africa with a church mission to Uganda when she was 18. When she came home, she immediately began working to go back. Five years ago, the 2012 Wheaton Warrenville South High School graduate returned.
About a year later, she moved to Ghana, where she co-founded an organization that helps find funding for children to have medical procedures they otherwise would not be able to afford.
She also began fostering two young orphan sisters, 11-year-old Rhoda and 8-year-old Priscilla.
Hume-Steele said Meghan's friends in Ghana held their third and final memorial service for her in her adopted country this past weekend.
"The first one was a week after she had passed, and the second was about a month later near a lake that was very special to everyone, and they held a candlelight dinner there," Hume Steele said Tuesday.
As for Rhoda and Priscilla, Hume-Steele said the girls were doing "very well."
She plans on converting the Go Fund Me page she started to assist with Meghan's initial hospitalization into a fund to help the girls' financial future.
The sisters have been under the care of Meghan's friends in Ghana and are in the process of being adopted by a sibling of those friends.
"These are people the girls have known for a very long time," Hume-Steele said. "Things are starting to wind down and get back to normal, but I just want to make sure we do everything Meghan would have wanted and doing what's best for the girls."
• Daily Herald Staff Writer Jake Griffin contributed to this report.