Geraldine McGloin, 74, passed away on Sunday, March 10, after a short illness. McGloin was a longtime correspondent for the South Texas Catholic and was active in many organizations and ministries of the Diocese of Corpus Christi.
Born on Dec. 18, 1938 to Justine Bluntzer and Gerald Paul D’Unger, McGloin graduated from Incarnate Word Academy and worked during much of her life for United Way in Houston and later as the Director of Development for Incarnate Word in Corpus Christi. She was a proud member of pioneer Texas families whose roots extended back to the 1800s when the state was still called the Republic of Texas.
Proud of her heritage she had served as a member of the Nueces County Historical Commission, the Nueces County Historical Society (which awarded her the Daniel Kilgore History Award for her work) and the Corpus Christi Area Heritage Society- serving on that board during the period of renovations on the Centennial House.
Her involvement in these programs was inspired by a respect for history and the achievements of her ancestors that she inherited from her grandmother Kate Dougherty Bluntzer and her aunt Rachel Hebert. She was instrumental in finding one of the earliest paintings of Corpus Christi, a watercolor by artist Thomas Flintoff painted during the Kinney Fair of 1852. The Corpus Christi Museum was able to purchase the original for their collection.
Because of her work with various projects of the Museum she was also asked to be a board member of the Friends of the Museum. She spent countless hours working on the material for the website on Old Bayview Cemetery sponsored by the Corpus Christi Public Library system in an effort to increase awareness about the cemetery and work for the preservation of the early history of Corpus Christi.
During the 150th anniversary of the Corpus Christi Cathedral Parish she served as one of the principal authors of the articles on the events and personalities of those 150 years and served as a docent to give tours of the Cathedral with extensive commentary. She was a major contributor to the book on the history of the Diocese of Corpus Christi- “Becoming One Body”.
During the 100th anniversary celebration of the founding of the diocese she helped in preparing articles for the South Texas Catholic,acenturyoftradition.org, bulletin spots for local parishes and radio spots for KLUX to promote a deeper awareness of the contributions of those generations of faith who have gone before us.
She sought to encourage lay Catholic involvement through her work with the Catholic Daughters of America Court No. 246 at the Corpus Christi Cathedral, projects of the Diocesan Council of Catholic Women, Catholic study programs, Incarnate Word Academy, Old San Patricio’s church and extensive work with Corpus Christi Right to Life where she served as secretary and worked for the purchase and use of sonograms to promote life.
She is survived by her brothers Claude and Jerry (Marian) D’Unger, her sons Philip Wright and Andy (Katherine) Wright and her grandsons Casey, Will, Peyton and Keylan.