Madeline Mortimer

Madeline Alice Mortimer, 92, died Saturday (June 14, 2008) at the Red Carpet Health Care Center, Cambridge. She was born on May 14, 1916 in Ravenna, daughter of Thomas Mortimer and Alice (Scaglione) Mortimer. She first attended school in Ravenna, but due to the hospitalization of her mother, was educated mainly in orphanages by the Episcopalian Sisters of the Trinity. She was Episcopalian by faith. In 1934, Madeline married Ira "Corky" Andres in Cleveland. She bore him three children, James, George and Suzanne, before obtaining a divorce in about 1942. During World War II, she worked briefly at a bomber factory near the Cleveland Airport. Also during the war, she was stricken with the chronic illness that then kept her confined to various state hospitals for about thirty years. She was released from the former Cambridge State Hospital in the early 1970s and found work as a maid at the old Berwick Hotel. She lost her job in the late '80s but was able to get her own SSI benefits upon turning 65 in 1981. From 1981 until about 1999, Madeline lived alone in Cambridge, where she kept fit making regular hikes to the bank and to her favorite local stores, especially Dollar General and Jamboree Foods. For several years, Madeline resided at the Frisbee Motel. Then, failing eyesight and increasing instability forcer her removal to assisted living. Since about 2000, Madeline has lived at the Red Carpet Health Care Center of Cambridge. She leaves her three children, three half-sisters, eleven grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. Family and friends may call on Wednesday (June 18, 2008) from 2 to 3:30 p.m. at Thorn-Black Funeral Home, Cambridge, where services will follow at 3:30 p.m. with Father John Brandenburg officiating. Burial will be at Northwood Cemetery, Cambridge.