2-decade endeavor was a family affair

The business graduate has marketed an 'Irish Hail Mary' print.
By JoANNE VIVIANO
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Mary E. Beck had plans for her graduation honor cords before she ever received them.
"I'm going to give them to my parents," the Boardman woman said. "I've waited 22 years for this."
The mother of two was among about 750 graduates at the Youngstown State University commencement Saturday.
Graduating summa cum laude and being inducted into an honor society, Beck earned two sets of the cords -- one set for Mom, Paula McKinney, and one set for Dad, Tom McKinney.
As she talked of the support she's received over the years, Beck was a bit surprised that tears crept into her eyes.
"I'm glad I did it. It was a dream of mine," said Beck, who received a bachelor of science degree in business administration. "It's been so long in coming, it makes it sweet."
Beck, a 1980 graduate of Ursuline High School, put off college when she finished high school but decided to start a few years later when she was in her mid-20s.
"I was doing jobs people who had degrees were doing and they were getting better pay, better positions, better breaks," said Beck, during an interview Friday at her home.
She attended YSU, also working full time.
Time out for family
Then, about 10 years ago, she put both her career and education on hold to have children. Julia is 10, and B.J. is 8. Beck has also helped rear her niece Erin, 14, after the death of the girl's mother when she was 3.
Six years later, she went back to school full time, trying to schedule her classes around their schedules.
"It was different now," she remembered. "It wasn't too hard, but I was always worried. I wondered: 'Do I still have it?'"
So she found out. Beck uncovered a copy of the "Irish Hail Mary" prayer, written in Gaelic, and copyrighted a print with a design that features a shamrock and a cross etched by her sister Annie McKinney, now deceased. They now are sold in about 60 Celtic stores across the country, from Seattle to New York City.
But the success didn't keep Beck from pursuing her diploma.
"It always ate at me that I didn't have it. It was unfinished business," she said. She looks at her daughter: "And I thought, 'What am I teaching them if I don't finish?'"
Back to studies
Beck went back to school, getting help from her husband, Brian, and her brother Daniel McKinney -- Erin's dad -- when she needed someone to fill in child-care gaps.
She learned to make 20-minute meals. And she learned she is capable of more than she had thought.
Some nights, she sat at the table with her children and they all studied together. During the three months before tax day, Brian, an accountant, also worked with them.
"Sometimes all four of us surrounded the table. ... We'd study together. That was the neatest thing about it," Beck said. "My son would get off the bus, and I'd say, 'How'd your day go?' And he'd say, 'Good. How was your test?'"
Thrown into the mix was the Irish step dancing of Julia and Erin, B.J.'s bowling, and Julia's chorus and Erin's orchestra, and they all play baseball. Don't forget sick children and snow days. And, at times, Mom was teaching religious education or Junior Achievement classes.
Beck's biggest fear was that she wouldn't be able to juggle it all. "That I won't be there when they have their moments," she explained.
B.J. was missing commencement for a bowling tournament in Columbus on Saturday, and she was torn.
"Maybe he'll bowl a strike when I get my diploma," she said.
Daughter's appreciation
But Julia said Mom is always there.
"It's amazing how she got through college," Julia said. "Kids in college ... they come home to a dorm room or go out and party. She came home to what I consider her hardest job -- being a mom. And she caught everything."
Beck caught everything in college too, achieving a 3.82 grade point average. She was able to use her "Irish Hail Mary" experience in her courses. And she was also able to toss in another of her loves: fishing. "Log" -- the 35-inch, 14-pound muskie she caught in the Shenango River in 1998 -- helped her develop an analysis of the sports fishing industry.
Beck said she also received help from her family -- even those who couldn't make it to her commencement.
Siblings' legacy
Her brother Tom, one of eight siblings, died during the 2000 Christmas season.
She said she went to school 16 days after his burial. But she was able to draw on his memory, knowing he would want her to finish her degree.
Annie died in 1982, just a week after the girl's high school graduation.
She looks at a photo of Annie's silhouette, an orange sky behind her, that hangs in the family room.
"She inspired me," Beck said. "She helped me more times than you know to get through college.
"Any time I would think of her, it would remind me of a simpler, happier time."