Mac McAuliffe, Jenny’s beloved husband, committed suicide on July 11, 2016. No one in the family, including Jenny, knew how despairing and determined he was. He suffered at least 4 major illnesses, any one of which would have been more than enough to endure. Recently Parkinson’s was added to the list. His pain after a double hip replacement several years ago was not ever manageable, and we think his taking his life was closely connected with bad health which could only get worse. For a few months he had been acting erratically and had tried several times to take his own life with pills and Vodka. He was finally successful – he jumped off the bridge over Mac’s Cove on Whidbey Island.
Mac came into Jenny’s life in Tucson in 2001, a recently divorced, extremely personable and charming man. They fell in love almost immediately, and part of their courtship took place in the Rogue Valley when he came for the Britt Classical season that summer. Mount Ashland, in particular, held a special place in their romance. They married in the Ashland Springs Hotel in 2004.
They went to live in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and later to Milwaukee and then Las Vegas. Last winter they retired and bought a house on Whidbey Island, which seemed ideal, as Jenny’s children both live in Seattle. When I visited in April, Mac was morphing from a successful businessman into an islander, his hair was growing, his ears were pierced, his clothes casual (ties and polished shoes a thing of the past). And he was beginning to do the kind and wonderful things in the community that we knew him for, like musical combos with Jenny at elementary schools and sending necessities and luxuries to a poor village in Honduras (where his long-time friend Michael has been living since retirement). But his skills at hiding his misery were great, and we now realize that no one (except perhaps his beloved sister who was his confidante) knew the Mac who was suffering so severely that life no longer held any savor. He is much loved and missed. I feel particularly bereft at the Britt Classical performances. Not only did we share a love for the the music, but for the last few years he would haul me out of the low lawn chair when I could no longer do it alone.The spontaneous flashes of memory that we have keep him alive to us. I think of him as Mac the gallant.
The wedding was at the Ashland Springs Hotel and a great party. Family and friends from all over the country.
