Mary Patricia Strack – January 8, 2022

Mary Patricia Strack (Briscoe), aged 90, passed on into eternal life on January 8, 2022, after enduring cancer treatment in her final months. She was born on June 13, 1931, in Bronx, NY and was the only child to Henry and Josephine Briscoe, both Irish immigrants. Her parents met during World War One in a field hospital in France where her father, an officer in the British Army, was being nursed after being wounded in combat. As a teenager, Mary met the love of her life, Albert Edward Strack Jr., at the local candy store, where he worked, around the corner from her stereotypical Bronx high rise apartment complex. They married on June 16, 1951, only a few weeks after Al graduated from Fordham University and was commissioned in the Air Force.  Their military career of twenty years moved the Strack family to New York, Mississippi, Alabama, Germany, Tennessee, Puerto Rico, and to Colorado Springs in 1964 where Al was in the initial cadre of personnel serving in Cheyenne Mountain.  Mary led the family while Al did a tour in Vietnam. Al retired from the Air Force shortly after in 1971 and moved on to work in defense industry related jobs, bringing the family to live in in Fort Washington, Maryland and Chester, New Jersey. Mary and Al moved back to Colorado Springs in 1992. After Al’s passing in 1996, she moved to Newport News, Virginia with her daughter, Theresa, where she lived until 2011, when she moved back to Colorado Springs.

Mary brought eight children into the world, and they in turn blessed her with 11 grandchildren and two great grandchildren. Mary was blessed with many children and grandchildren that fulfilled her life and gave her much to keep up with even until her last breath.  In Mary’s final hours she heard from all of them, despite the family being spread out all over the USA. The expressions of love, care and respect affirmed her long standing position as the much-loved senior matriarch of the Strack family. 

She is preceded in death by her parents, her husband Albert, her son Thomas (Tom), and her daughter Claire. Her family takes great comfort in knowing she is rejoined with them in eternal life after a long, well lived, loving earthly life.

She is survived by her son Edward of Colorado Springs, his wife Holly, their daughter Melanie (married to Steven Mogey) and great grandchildren Kyle and Ella; son, Kevin of Orlando, FL and his sons Sean and Tim; her grandson Allen (son of Thomas); son Christopher (Chris) of Branchburg, NJ, his wife Kathy and their daughter Kelly (married to Stephen); son, James (Jim) of Lake Nagawicka, WI, married to Melissa and their children, Jackson and Addyson; daughter Alison of Middlesex, NJ, married to Richard Penrose and their daughter Katie; and daughter Theresa (Terri) of Gainesville, VA, married to Rob Richtmyre, and their three children Daniel (married to Yaritza Abrego), Rose, and Mitchell.

A memorial mass, followed by a reception will be held to honor and cherish her life, at 10 AM 26 April, at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, 2030 W Colorado Ave, Colorado Springs, Colorado.  A private family burial will be held at Fort Logan National Cemetery where Mary will be in interred with her husband, Albert E. Strack Jr. The family requests that memorial donations be made in her honor to Pikes Peak Hospice Foundation. 2550 Tenderfoot Hill Street, Colorado Springs, CO 80906 or through their website https://pikespeakhospice.org