Mary Frances Veeck: a rich life remembered

In October, 1949, the Associated Press reported that Bill Veeck, the 36-year-old president of the then Cleveland Indians, would marry "Mary Frances Ackerman, 27, former dramatic school student at the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh."

"Veeck met her in Cleveland where she was handling publicity for the Ice Capades last year," the report said.

She told the press, "Since people learned that Bill and I were getting married, they've all been asking 'can you talk baseball intelligently?'"

She said she had to know baseball: "Because my dad and two brothers were always talking it and unless I could talk in terms of base hits and fielding percentages, they'd take the conversation away from me, and that would never do, would it?"

The union, which lasted until Bill's death on Jan. 2, 1986, proved an eventful one that included one pennant, with the White Sox in 1959, and several publicity stunts, most notably during Bill's stint as St. Louis Browns owner, when he sent 3-foot-7-inch Eddie Gaedel up to bat.

The marriage proved a true baseball and publicity partnership. After Bill returned to Chicago to take over the White Sox for a second ownership stretch prior to the 1976 season, he unveiled new uniforms with shorts.

Bill told the media, "How would I describe the new uniforms? I would use the same description my wife, Mary Frances, used when she saw them: Understated elegance."

By 1976, Mary Frances, who was actually 29 in 1949, was withholding her age from reporters, saying, in an otherwise revealing interview, "I tell the children I'm 125 because (Bill) liked older women."

She ultimately fell short of 125 by 23 years, passing away Sept. 10 shortly after her 102nd birthday.

Last weekend was a time to remember Mary Frances' very full and rich life during a memorial service at St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood.

Son Greg, a spitting image of his father, delivered a moving remembrance that offered a glimpse into this complex woman who was the ideal marital complement of a unique baseball personality.

He recalled how she would race through Hyde Park on a tricycle the size of a Volkswagen to her shift as a volunteer at a local co-op.

Mentioning her love of music, he remembered how she would substitute her own lyrics when she lacked the words to tunes she loved.

"There are many parts of 'Cabaret' where I was amazed when I heard the original recording because I had spent 25 years hearing mother's version of those songs."

He spoke about her love of family, food and travel, as well as her faith, her sense of fairness and how she promoted the value of small acts of kindness and civility.

"She wanted a fairer Hyde Park, a fairer Chicago, a fairer US, a fairer world," he said.

Prior to attending the service, followed by the reception at the Catholic Theological Union in Hyde Park, I had a chance to speak with friends and family, including Chicago author and journalist Dave Hoekstra, former Chicago broadcast journalist Mike Leiderman and Mary Frances' daughter Marya, who runs an art gallery in Chicago.

Hoekstra, who wrote a moving tribute on his website, davehoekstra.com, said, "She was just the perfect partner and the perfect match for Bill Veeck," he said. At the same time, he said, she was her own person. "She was such a woman of grace and style and dignity."

Leiderman said, "Mary Frances was like a soul sister. She was so cool. So smart.

"One day she said, 'Come on, let's go to an art exhibit. She took me to a Judy Chicago art exhibit. It was called "The Dinner Party."

"So we're looking at it and she goes, 'Mike, what do you think?' I said, 'I'm looking at this table. It looks like nothing but vaginas.' And she goes, 'Exactly. What is more personal to women?'"

Later, after Channel 5 fired Leiderman in 1980, he was sitting with Mary Frances at Comiskey Park. When she asked him what happened, he said, "They told me, among other things, I didn't appeal to anybody younger than 50 and the only people who liked me were Jews."

Mary Frances sent Channel 5 a letter saying "you people are dolts for firing Mike Leiderman. He appeals to all of us. He's a terrific sportscaster, a really bright guy." Leiderman said, "It was signed 'Mary Frances Veeck and also her three daughters' and they put the ages. 17, 22 and 24. That was Mary Frances. I still have the letter."

Marya shared fond memories of both her parents and what it was like growing up with these two strong personalities.

"We had all kinds of animals growing up," including, at one time, 18 dogs," she remembered.

She also said her dad was "an unbelievable gardener."

"My father planted daffodils in front of her bedroom window that were her initials. MFV," she said. "Then in the spring she would look out her window and she would see MFV planted in daffodils."

Her memories included several humorous episodes, such as when she and her mother built a little house with a "Little Women" theme in a closet.

"We built the whole house. And then all of a sudden, we didn't have the woman who was supposed to be the maid. And so mom goes, 'Why don't we use the Mrs. Butterworth container and put an apron on her?'"

When her father would attempt to clean the fish tank, usually before Thanksgiving, "(Mary Frances) would say, 'We're going to have 20 some people over here. And you're cleaning the fish tank?' "And she came down one day and she put on slippers and a snorkel and was cooking at the stove."

One of Marya's last memories happened after Mary Frances passed the century mark.

"She looked at me about a year and a half ago, and she goes, 'Marya, am I dead?'

And I go, 'Mom, do I look like an angel?'"

If such beings as angels exist, Mary Frances Veeck is with them right now.