Mary Catherine Thorrez-Wheeler, age 65, of Jackson, MI, passed away at the Southwest Hospice in Cincinnati, Ohio after a battle with cancer.

Mary Cay, daughter of God and Blessed Virgin Mary, tried to live a life that pleased and saved souls, so to live in Eternal Life forever and ever with her mother and father, Phyllis and Henry Thorrez, and all her siblings, children, family and friends.

She is survived by her 11 children and 25 grandchildren: Herbert “Burt”; Trevor, his wife, Jenna, and children Damien, Trason, Kiara, Leila, and Alena; Andrea, her husband, Jacob, and children Caylee, DeAnna, Aidan, Gavin, and Gabriella; Phyllis, her husband, William, and children Giuliana, Giada, and Giorgio; Thomas; Quentin; Paul and his wife, Jessica; Bernadette, her husband, Paul, and children Lucas, Landen, Abrielle, and Evangeline; Spencer, his wife, Amanda, and children Lily, Felicity, and Madeleine; Dominic; and Patrick, his wife, Taylor, and children Vivian, Gemma, Harrison, Eleanor, and Theodore; and brothers, Camiel and Jeoffrey Thorrez.

She is preceded in death by her parents; son, Donald “DJ”; daughter, Katrina; brother, Thomas; sisters, Diana, Sandra, Candace, and Theresa; nephew, Luke; and niece’s , Saren and Veronica.

Mary Cay was a devout Catholic, and she spent most of her life raising her many children and teaching them about the importance of their faith. She volunteered, traveled, and strove to help her children through their formative and adolescent years. During her later years she lived as a hermit, spending her time focused on prayer and specifically praying for the conversion of sinners while offering-up any discomfort to better attain God’s goal for her.

Mary Cay was always finding saints or other prominent members of the church and writing down memorable quotes or important lines from their works. One quote from her son, DJ, is a fitting reminder for us to keep hope, “It will all work out in the end.”

A public Catholic service will occur on Saturday, May 28, 2022, 10:00 a.m., at St. Mary Star of the Sea Catholic Church in Jackson, MI.