Submitted by: Dan Rich
Sept. 24, 1906 - July 5, 1998
South Bend Tribune 7/8/1998
Lucy Margaret McCullough, 91, of South Bend, active for many years in community and church affairs, died Sunday at Your Home Assisted Living. In the 1940s she co-founded the Aquinas Bookshop that served downtown South Bend until the 1960s, and continues today on Mishawaka Avenue. In recognition of her community service, the South Bend Public Library noted in 1989 that her ''love of the written word and dedication to the dissemination of good literature has contributed to the betterment of this community and to the libraries within the South Bend community.''
She helped start the Catholic Worker House that served unemployed and homeless in South Bend in the early 1940s. During the same period she was a member of the Diocesan Council of Catholic Women. In 1966 she became a teacher in the city's Head Start program. She was fond of telling parents that they are their children's best teachers. When she retired in 1979, she was Head Start's volunteer coordinator.
Lucy's long association with the University of Notre Dame began with her marriage in 1932 to alumnus William H. McCullough at the Log Chapel. Their two sons graduated from the university in 1959 and 1968. Now, a new generation of students is completing their studies at the university through the William H., Sr., and Lucy McCullough Scholarship Fund established by their family in 1994.
She found great inspiration in the work of Father Michael Mathis of Notre Dame, a pioneer of liturgy reforms in the Catholic Church. A lifetime member of the American Liturgical Conference, she remained devoted to efforts to revitalize the practice of liturgy in parishes and in the home. Her beloved husband William preceded her in death in 1990. She is survived by daughters, Mary (Denis) Novak of Cottage Grove, Minnesota, and Maggie (Joseph) Kernan of South Bend; sons, William H., Jr., (Kathleen) of Chatham, Massachusetts, and Michael (Susan) of New York City; and by eight grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
There will be a wake from 5 to 7 p.m. today and a funeral Mass at 10 a.m. on Thursday, both in St. Joseph's Church on the corner of Hill and LaSalle streets in South Bend. Memorial contributions may be made to the William H., Sr., and Lucy McCullough Scholarship Fund at Notre Dame, or to Hospice of St. Joseph County, Inc. The Hickey Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
Editor: Her maiden name was Lucy Margaret Lee.