Mary Patricia Hauck

Mary Patricia (Pat) Hauck was born December 18, 1921 at Terre Haute IN to John Walter Hauck and Helen J. Frisz Hauck. She grew up in Evansville IN and was attending Evansville College when our country entered WWII. Pat quit school and went to work at Sunbeam Mfg.

Co. and later the Army Modification Center to help in the war effort.

When the war was over, the family moved to Crawfordsville to be near "The Shades" which was owned by her grandfather, Joseph W. Frisz. Pat and her brother, John, helped at the property during school summer vacations. Tourists came by train from Chicago, Cincinnati and elsewhere to enjoy the lovely scenery, and the Pavilion with a dance floor with music. The property held 18 cottages and a hotel for guests and movies were held once a week. It was a popular getaway. Mr.Frisz, as a great conservationist, preserved the land well for forty years and in 1949 it was designated as an Indiana State Park.

Pat became Comptroller for the P.R. Mallory plant and later ended her working career in a similar position with Cerro Copper Tubing Corporation. Pat continued to be busy in retirement by calling on the sick and the shut-ins and by expressing her written views to politicians.

Her interest and support of Native Americans along with her friend, Rachel Bridget, led to their being invited to join the American Indian Council in 1987.

Pat had been a parishioner of St. Bernard's Church in Crawfordsville for 71years. In 1990, Pat went on a mission trip to Haiti to visit the church where St. Bernard's began a Haiti connection in 1989. That connection continues today with St. Bernard's parishioners visiting often as missionaries. The parish of St. Francis Xavier sets high on a mountain in Carrefour Sanon, Haiti. Pat's work for and in Haiti started Pat on a new career...working for God.

The abject poverty among the Haitian women moved Pat to want to help ease their burdens. She began to collect costume jewelry people were no longer using here at home. With the help of her dear friend, Ethel Kiefer, Pat gathered donations, cleaned, repaired and re-packaged the jewelry. It was a project to offer Haitian women a boost economically which allowed them to support their families. In Haiti they sold the jewelry as street vendors with a basket of jewelry on their heads.

These Haitian women worked under the tutelage of Sr. Mary Alban, a French-Canadian Catholic Sister from the Bon Pasteur Convent. Sister Mary Alban began working in Haiti in 1990 and continued for many years speaking fluent Creole. Sister began with the fundamentals which included teaching each woman to write her name. That was followed by learning to keep a simple ledger which required teaching basic math and understanding the cost of items and the ability to make change. Sister accepted eight or nine women at a time to learn these roots of starting a business.

Individual contracts were established between the women and Sr. Mary Alban. To begin, they were each given a handful of rice and beans plus a handful of jewelry. The contract set 30% as the rate of their money from sales to be returned to Sister Mary Alban. The women were pledged to honor the contract and most all of the women were eager to do just that. After receiving supplies three times, the woman received the original amount of the loan and was then on her own to buy and sell as a knowledgeable street vendor.

This project has continued to develop over 25 plus years educating Haitian women a few at a time. Now St.

Bernard's has an excellent jewelry committee that will continue Pat's work into the future.

Pat's mind and her hands were never idle, sharing with others her ideas and her handiwork. Pat has finally laid aside her tools...and is at peace.

Pat was preceded in death by her parents, her brother, John Hauck and her sisters, Mary Hauck Dulin, South Bend, IN. and Helen Jo Hauck Foerster, Crawfordsville IN.

Pat is survived by her brother, Tom Hauck, (Newburgh, IN) her sister, Martha Hauck Kaminski, (Lake Station, IN) and her sister, Jean Hauck Clark (Ocoee, Fl.). Many loving nieces, nephews, great-nieces and great-nephew also survive