Christine I.M. McMaster

Memorial Mass for Christine I. McMaster, formally of Bryan, Ohio, who at age 90 died at 3:07 A.M. on Sunday, December 26, 2010, in Community Hospitals and Wellness Centers, Bryan, where she had been a patient following a brief illness. She will finally be memorialized at a Mass at St. Patrick Church, Bryan, Ohio on Saturday, March 10, 2012 at 2 P.M. As a retired Registered Nurse, she was most interested in the medical sciences, and as such donated her body to the University of Toledo Medical College. She hoped that the donation of her body to the University of Toledo Medical Center would help in the quest to find a cure for celiac disease and better treatment options for C.O.P.D. Immediately following her death, she was transported to the Medical College where she “worked in research” with Medical students until just recently when her “work” was completed. She is now back with us and ready for a proper memorial celebration of her life on this earth. Mrs. McMaster graduated from nurses’ training in Columbus, Georgia, on May 1, 1942, and worked as a registered nurse in many private and military hospitals as she moved often following her husband’s military career. She worked as an RN until she retired and then took on another career as a travel agent in the family business. She was a member of St. Patrick Catholic Church in Bryan and St. Patrick’s Young at Heart Club. Her other memberships included Arts Club and she was a former member of the Taine Club. Mrs. McMaster was a longtime volunteer with the Williams County Red Cross Bloodmobile. She served as a volunteer in the outpatient surgery waiting room at Bryan Hospital. While living in Bryan, she also worked as a volunteer with the Bryan Church Free Store. An amazing person, Mrs. McMaster affected the lives of others with her larger-than-life personality. She was a member of the "Golden Girls," a group of ladies who had their hair done at the same time on the same day of each week at Action Hair Design. Those who dared enter the beauty shop at that time have shared their belief that there was not a subject that had not been discussed and no topic was off limits. They agreed and argued politics, religion, and sports, but their favorite subject was men. Married for forty-nine years to a career military officer, who retired as a Lt. Colonel, she endured his absence during World War II, loved and raised her family, crossed the ocean by ship three times alone with the children in tow (the first time going round trip to Salzburg, Austria and the second time to Formosa, now known as Taiwan), all to join her husband wherever he was stationed. She never lived in one place for more than a couple of years, yet always made a home for her family. She even lost her index finger after it became infected from a bite she received while saving a friend’s life as he choked on a piece of cake.She gave up her religion to embrace her husband’s religion in raising the children Catholic and ultimately became a Catholic herself. On Father’s Day in 1992, three months before their fiftieth wedding anniversary, she kissed her husband farewell as he succumbed to cancer. On December 7, 1992, just a few months later, she kissed her oldest son, Bill, goodbye as he died of AIDS. She packed up, sold everything, and moved to Bryan from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and started over. It was truly culture shock for her and everyone in Bryan, too! She made everyone laugh. One did not always know what she was going to say, but it was always some version of being deadly honest. Christine Ida Mae McMaster was born on April 30, 1920, in Atlanta, Georgia, the daughter of George Andrew and Christine Ann (Jenkins) Wilson. She married William E. McMaster, Sr. in September 1942, and he preceded her in death in June 1992. Preceding her in death in addition to her husband was a son, William E. McMaster, Jr. (Bill), and three brothers, Max, Roy and August Wilson.Surviving are one daughter, Christine (Carlton) Dietsch, of Edgerton, Ohio, and one son, David Andrew (Betty) McMaster, of Bellingham, Washington; two grandchildren, Coleen (John) Dietsch-Krubl, of Athens, Ohio, and Cairon (Ryan) Dietsch-Jones, of Bryan; four great-grandchildren, Alexa Chae Dietsch-Jones, Brynne Elizabeth Dietsch-Jones, John Carlton Krubl, Elizabeth Ann Krubl; one sister, Elizabeth Randolph, of Atlanta, Georgia; one sister-in-law, Nanelle Wilson; and her nieces and nephews, Mike Wilson, Maxene Gilbert, Howard, James and George Randolph, Myra Bates, Jim, Tom, Robert, Michael and Joe McMaster. Also surviving is her adopted Russian family, Marina, Boris and Lenny Pekelis. Christine McMaster embodied the meaning of love: care, concern, respect, and responsibility for herself and all she shared her life with. She lived strong and was driving independently to the age of 90. She gave until there was no more to give.