Patrick Mulkerin Dies - January 21, 1935

Patrick Mulkerin Obituaries

Patrick J. Mulkerin, diocesan president of the Catholic Total Abstinence Union, remained an arch foe of liquor until the very end of his fruitful life, even after attending physicians advised him that a spoonful of liquor would stimulate his weakened heart and prolong life. When death was fast closing in on Mr. Mulkerin at the family home, 2816 Birney avenue, Minooka, early Thursday evening, liquor was prescribed. A nurse poured a small quantity on a spoon and placed it on the patient’s lips. His eyelids lifted slowly and his lips opened and in a weakened voice, he uttered: “No, not now, never, I would rather die as I have lived.” A few minutes afterwards he closed his eyes in eternal sleep. Mr. Mulkerin, as a boy, had taken the Father Mathew pledge and kept it inviolate all his life. 

Patrick Mulkerin Dies; Ill for ten days - Died January 21, 1935

Prominent in Temperance movement all of his life. Retired Prudential Life Insurance Agent.

Newspaper Sketch of Patrick

Patrick. J. Mulkerin, a leader in the Catholic Total Abstinence Union of the Scranton Diocese for half a century and a retired insurance agent, died at 8:30 o’clock last night, in the family home 2816 Cedar Avenue, Minooka, after ten days’ illness.

Mr. Mulkerin was regarded as one of the best versed temperance workers in this region and his passing came as a distinct shock to hundreds of friends and acquaintances. He was a lifelong resident of Minooka and was looked upon as a kind, generous and whole hearted citizen. In his early years he worked about the mines, later becoming an agent for the Prudential Life Insurance Company in which capacity he served for thirty years retiring about three years ago.

Mr. Mulkerin was a close friend and relative of School Director P.J. Philbin who died early yesterday morning in his Minooka home.

Mr. Mulkerin was the first president of the Holy Name Society of St. Joseph’s Church, Minooka. For over thirty years he was prominent in the affairs of the St. Joseph’s Cadets and though his beneficial influence hundreds of boys in his hometown were enrolled under the banner of total abstinence. He also served for a number of years as president of the St. Joseph’s T.A.B. Society, and for the past ten years served at the diocesan president of the C.T.A.U.

For the past thirty-eight years he had been active in the affairs of the O’Connell Council Y.M.I., Minooka, serving as treasurer for twenty years. At all times he endeavored to promote the moral, social and intellectual improvement of young men.

Aside from taking a lively interest in the Y.M.I., the total abstinence movement, the Holy Name Society and the cadets, Mr. Mulkerin had been active in the official life of Lackawanna township. He served as tax collector of the township from 1906-1911 and filled one term as a township commissioner. Upon retiring from the insurance field, he was appointed truant officer by the township school board and served in that capacity since.

Mr. Mulkerin possessed a perpetual smile and many other noticeable traits of character which stamped him among the most likable men in the Lackawanna valley. There is probably no man in the community who led a more exemplary life than Mr. Mulkerin.

Surviving are his widow (Jane McDonnell), three sons, John, Patrick and Peter, three daughters, Mrs. Gerald (Mary) Kennedy, Mrs. M.A.(Genevieve/Jane) Phillips and Mrs. John (Esther) Dunleavy; two step brothers, the Rev. Peter F. Cusick, S.J., [half brother] of Auriesville, N.Y., and M.G. Cusick; also two sisters, Mrs. Mary Higgins, and Mrs. Thomas (Anne) Grogan, all of Minooka.

The funeral will be held Tuesday morning, with a solemn high mass.

Note: Patrick's brother, Festus, and half-brother, Willie Cusick, was killed in the Mud Run train wreck on October 10, 1888.