Mary Counsil ‘Mollie’
Jan. 25, 1923 - March 1, 2008
Thursday, March 6, 2008 10:24 AM PST
Payette
Mary “Mollie” Counsil, 85, of New Plymouth, passed peacefully on Saturday, March 1, 2008. Memorial Mass will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday, March 8, 2008, at Corpus Christi Catholic Church, Fruitland. Inurnment will follow at Park View Cemetery, New Plymouth. A visitation for family and friends will be from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday, March 6, 2008, at Shaffer-Jensen Memory Chapel, New Plymouth, with a friendship and prayer vigil at 7 p.m. Condolences may be made to the family at
www.shaffer-jensenchapel.com.
Mary Christine Maddison was born in Melbourne, Australia, on Jan. 25, 1923, the fourth of five children. Mary attended convent schools, went on to secretarial school and became a legal secretary. When the war broke out around Australia, she worked for the U.S. Military as a secretary.
After the war, her best friend was a war bride who moved to Caldwell, Idaho. Mollie was able to come to the U.S. in 1947 to see her friend and met Chet Counsil while dancing at the Gayway dance hall in Fruitland. He asked her, “How long have you spoken English?” They were married July 24, 1948.
As her husband was building his business, she was building their home and their family. Mary was a member of St. Aloysius Catholic Church in New Plymouth, the Emoh Club, V.F.W. Auxiliary and helped the Kiwanis Club baking pies and working at their fair booth. Mary was also very involved in their business and worked as bookkeeper and “Girl Friday” whenever needed.
Mary’s greatest pride was her children. She shared their passions and did everything to make them happy — from guitar lessons, a horse and then horses, managing a “rock and roll” band that played in the garage and drove the neighbors crazy until they listened and said, “It’s not bad.”
Mollie loved to travel, and she and Chet toured much of the U.S., Canada and Europe. She was able to return home to Australia in 1974 to see her father before he passed.
Her husband, Chet; her son, Casey; her parents; brothers; and sisters preceded her in death.
Mollie is survived by her son, Noel Counsil, his wife, Sharon, and their sons, Zachary, Joshua and Gabriel, Ottawa, Canada; her daughter, Chris Joyce, and husband, Greg, and their sons, John and Joseph, New Plymouth, Idaho; and four nieces and one nephew and their families in Australia.
The family wishes to thank SunBridge of Payette for the care of our mother.
Memorials may be made to Chet Counsil Kiwanis Scholarship Fund, New Plymouth High School Students or a charity of your choice, c/o Shaffer-Jensen Memory Chapel, P.O. Box 730, Payette, ID 83661.
