A passing: There has been a lot of head shaking in Lake Forest the last couple of weeks. Many people just cannot believe that longtime resident and ardent volunteer Irene McMahon will not be around to help with the coming events of Lake County Catholic Charities or of the auxiliary boards of CASA of Lake County and Ragdale, which she co-founded, or with any of her numerous other charity activities. McMahon died on Aug. 21 at age 76 after a brief illness.
Melanie Rummel of Lake Forest, who worked on several of the same charity boards with McMahon, said, “Never did she seek attention. She shied away from positions such as president if she thought it meant receiving recognition. She would say, `Tell me what nobody else wants to do.’ And she was wonderful in getting people involved. She had contacts of all ages. She brought young people in with young ideas to Ragdale (the art and writing retreat in Lake Forest) and to the Volunteer Bureau. And she did the same for Catholic Charities. There will be a void in the community that will never be filled. What a loss.”