Mrs. Marie Claire Macholl

They “have slipped the surly bonds of earth…and touched the face of God” Marie Claire Macholl and Edward Arthur Macholl July 2, 1924-March 13, 2015 April 25 1920-August 1, 2015 Claire and Ed Macholl spent 70 years together, serving their communities and enjoying life and family in their unique ways. Claire was born in Detroit, MI, the eldest of 4 children of Ann Duncan and Harry Luyckx in 1924. Her mother was widowed with 4 children in 1932, then buried 2 of her 4 children in the depths of the Great Depression in 1934-35. Claire and her baby sister, Margaret Arden, went to St. Mary’s Academy Monroe, MI as boarding school students. After high school, Claire pursued nurse’s training at Mass General Hospital in Boston until she married Ed in July 1945. She completed her B.S. in Math at University of Detroit in the early 60’s, when the appeal of full-time housewifery faded into crashing boredom, then returned to the paid workforce. Claire was a Systems Analyst and Computer Programmer for General Motors, following her stint at Cranbrook Institute of Science. She retired in the early 80’s, then began her volunteer career at Hospice of the Foothills in Seneca, SC, where she programmed their database applications. Whip-smart and a quick thinker, she was brilliant and acerbic and a great partner for Ed. Ed was born in Ann Arbor, MI in 1920, eldest of 4 children, and raised in Detroit by his parents and aunt. He graduated from University of Detroit in 1942, holding several jobs to pay back his aunt’s tuition loan by the time he graduated. In the process of earning his mechanical engineering degree, he got his private pilot’s license, in time to put it to good use in the Navy during World War ll and Korea. Ed worked in the automotive industry his whole career, combining it with his Naval Reserve duties. He always said being an engineer might mean you wouldn’t get rich, but you’d always have a job. During his naval career, he survived 2 plane crashes, leading him to state, “It’s better to be lucky than good.” His daughter added the corollary, “But you can’t count on luck, so better be good as backup”. Ed was both lucky and good, with meticulous planning and record-keeping in hand-written spreadsheets covering decades of projects. He held himself to the highest moral standards of responsibility, duty and loyalty, underpinned by unspoken, solid love expressed by attention to detail rather than hugs or words of affection. Ed enjoyed a capacity for long-standing, deep-seated friendships spanning many decades. Though a precise, emotionally reserved engineer with a good deal of impatience, he loved flying, best expressed by the poem, High Flight, excerpted here: "Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings… Put out my hand, and touched the face of God." John Gillespie Magee, Jr. Ed and Claire married in 1945, following the traditional path of a normal family, raising their daughter, working, saving, retiring, traveling, moving to South Carolina in the mid-80’s, where they settled happily into the community. They were valued, respected and immensely well-liked members of the volunteer and wider community. Their deaths in 2015, after 70 years together, leave us many good memories and good deeds quietly done. They leave a daughter, Pat Macholl and a grandson, Aaron Macholl-Stanley, and Claire’s sister, Arden, in addition to a cadre of devoted nieces and nephews.

Mrs. Marie Claire Macholl

July 2, 1924 - March 13, 2015