Mary A. Fitzgerald Goyke, of North Huntingdon Township, shared a mission with her sisters -- to make rosaries for Roman Catholic missionaries.
For the past 14 years the Fitzgerald sisters -- Mary, Dolores, Margaret and Patricia -- made thousands of rosaries that were sent to missionaries in Guyana, Kenya and other countries throughout the world, said Mrs. Goyke's daughter, Mary Anne O'Neil, of North Huntingdon.
Mrs. Goyke, 74, formerly of West Mifflin, Allegheny County, died Saturday, Dec. 27, 2003, at O'Neil's home. She had lived with her daughter the past few years.
Mrs. Goyke was born May 11, 1929, in Pittsburgh, a daughter of the late John J. and Ursula D. Miller Fitzgerald. She and her husband, the late Edward Goyke Jr., raised their family in West Mifflin.
O'Neil recalls that her mother and aunts loved making rosaries. One sister, Patricia, handled the paperwork connected with ordering the components and sending them to missionaries. The other sisters assembled them, she said.
"It's time-consuming and takes real patience," O'Neil said.
O'Neil said she and her husband, Willis, were vacationing in the Bahamas and then in England when she recognized the rosary hanging from the rearview mirror of the taxis in which they were riding. She knew they were made by her mother because of the special knots she made.
"Faith was important in her life," O'Neil said of her mother, who was a member of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church in North Huntingdon.
In addition to spending time making rosaries, Mrs. Goyke also enjoyed working as a volunteer for the American Cancer Society, Kane Hospital, of McKeesport, and a number of food banks throughout the area, her daughter said.
She also was a member of the Herminie Seniors Center and the American Association of Retired Persons.
A homemaker for the past 50 years, Mrs. Goyke left her job with General Electric in Pittsburgh to raise her family, O'Neil said.
She added that her mother was not the kind of person to take vacations. In fact, Mrs. Goyke did not take her first vacation until 1996, when O'Neil took her mother to Myrtle Beach, S.C., for a few days.
"She will be sadly missed. Even her little pooch misses her," O'Neil said.
In addition to her parents, Mrs. Goyke was preceded in death by her husband, Edward Goyke Jr., in 1990; and a brother, Jack Fitzgerald. She is survived by two sons, Edward J. Goyke of Crafton and Gary M. Goyke of Dravosburg; two daughters, Mary Anne O'Neil of North Huntingdon and Geraldine A. Goyke of Cheswick; three grandchildren, Janine M. Goyke, Billy Dean Fedorek and Jesse J. McAfee; and three sisters, Dolores Tallon, Margaret Welty and Patricia Fitzgerald.
Friends were received at the James W. Shirley Funeral Home Inc., Clay Pike, Circleville, North Huntingdon. A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Tuesday in St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church, North Huntingdon, followed by interment in Richland Cemetery, Dravosburg.
