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A moment of silence will be observed at tonight’s regular meeting of the Hancock City Council for 70-year-old Mary J. Tuisku, who passed away Sunday at her home following a short illness.
Mary spent more than 16 years on the city council during three periods, including serving as mayor from 1990 to 1995.
Friends may call at the O’Neill-Dennis Funeral Home of Hancock on Monday, May 22, from 5 to 8pm.
A celebration of Mary’s life will be held July 1st at the Katherine G. Heideman and Mary J. Tuisku Pavilion at Porvoo Park in Hancock.
From the O’Neill-Dennis Funeral Home of Hancock–to view on their website, click here:
Hancock: Seventy year old Mary J. Tuisku died Sunday night, May 14, 2017 at her home following a short illness.
She was born on May 30, 1946 to the late Gladys (Prideaux) and Eugene J. Allwin in Laurium. She graduated from Lake Linden-Hubbell High School, and one of her proudest moments was giving the commencement address there in 1996. She also attended Northern Michigan University. She was married in 1967 to Richard H. Tuisku in St. Joseph’s Church in Lake Linden. They would have celebrated their 50th anniversary on June 24.
Mary was very active in her community, serving first on the Hancock Recreation Commission, then on the Hancock City Council for most of the time between 1982 and the present. She was the city’s first female mayor from 1990 to 1995. She was instrumental in the city’s acquisition of the Community Art Center building from the Kerredge family. She and her mentor, Katherine Heideman, were instrumental in adopting the city’s Finnish theme and the sister city relationship with Porvoo, Finland and was honored by the naming of the pavilion at Porvoo Park in their honor.
She was a member of numerous boards and commissions in the city, as well as past member of the Keweenaw National Park Advisory Commission. She was named the “Person of the Year” by the Keweenaw Peninsula Chamber of Commerce, and received the Community Service Award from the Copper Country Salvation Army. She also co-chaired the United Way Drive with her husband in the 1990’s. She disliked the term “politician”, preferring to call herself a public servant.
Mary loved sports and in her younger days was a star pitcher and power hitter in the Copper Country Women’s Softball League. She was proud of her Wednesday “Silver Dollar Ladies” group. She loved music but couldn’t sing a note! She was an avid packer fan.
Mary was a giving person, and loved animals large and small, preferring to save a bug rather than kill it, stopping to help turtles across the road, and loved her two cats. Mary was the lady with the PERHE license plate-its Finnish translation is “family”, and with her, family always came first. She also had PERHE tattooed on her arm, and another tattoo with a rainbow with “somewhere” written above it. In a proclamation she wrote earlier this year called “I Am”, she described herself like this, “A strong woman who would do battle to defend those who are on the side of righteousness and good.”
She was preceded in death by her parents and infant brother. She is survived by her husband, Dick (Storm) Tuisku; two daughters, Tammy Ann (Tom) Kelley of Niles, Michigan and Jodi Marie (Brian) Bigden of Cranford, New Jersey; one son, Jason Christian (Catherine) of Boise, Idaho; and her sister, Jeanne (Lloyd) Lantto of Atlantic Mine. Also surviving are three grandchildren, Marcus, Matthew, and Noah; two great-grandchildren, Zayleigh and Brian; as well as numerous nieces, nephews, cousins, and many friends.
Mary did not want anyone to mourn her death, but wanted them to celebrate her life. There will be a celebration of the life of Mary Tuisku on Saturday, July 1, at the Katherine G. Heideman and Mary J. Tuisku Pavilion at Porvoo Park in Hancock.
Friends may call at the O’Neill-Dennis Funeral Home in Hancock on Monday, May 22 from 5 until 8 P.M.
In lieu of other expressions of sympathy, donations may be made to the Copper Country Humane Society, PO Box 453, Houghton, MI 49931 or K-SNAG (Keweenaw Spay Neuter Assistance Group), 55934 Lake Linden Ave., Laurium, MI 49913.
Funeral arrangements are being handled from the O’Neill-Dennis Funeral Home of Hancock. To leave online condolences, please go to www.oneilldennisfh.com.
