She was born in Newark, Illinois on 5 May 1918. She lived on a farm in Lisbon, Illinois, where she attended a one room school. She graduated from Morris, Illinois High School and then completed a three year Registered Nurse program at Lutheran Deaconess Hospital, Chicago, Illinois in 1940. She served as a Lieutenant in the United States Army Nurse Corps near LeMans, France during World War II. She lived on Ainsley Street in Chicago, Illinois. She worked as a Registered Nurse at the Elmhurst Memorial Hospital for 15 years. Joseph Mackavick and Alphena Ficarrotto lived across the street from each other in Elmhurst Illinois. After the death of their first spouses in 1965 and 1968, they married in 1969 and lived in her house, at 282 East Oneida Avenue, Elmhurst, Illinois, until Joseph’s death in 1980. She had rheumatic heart disease, and was frail, but managed to live alone after moving to be near her only child, Mary, after Joseph’s death. She first lived at 5525 Tennessee Avenue, Apartment 203, Clarendon Hills, Illinois 60514, and then moved to 10 North Washington Street, Apartment 209, Hinsdale, Illinois 60521. She died at 60521 Hinsdale, Du Page, Illinois, at age 80 of end stage rheumatic heart disease. From a letter from her daughter Mary Bacon of 9 January 2000 "My dad never spent any money on dinner out or travel. I guess this came from being very poor as a child. He was quite the self-made American, putting himself through school while almost being a parent to his younger siblings as they had lost their mother to an illness when he was still a teenager and he was the oldest. He was a structural engineer-bright, but a very solitary man. After he died Joe and my mother just started going to dinner together and soon married. I think Joe was all the things that my dad was not-social, enjoyed food and wine, loved to travel, close with his family. My mom just seemed to love all of this that she had missed. Joe was such a good friend to me, right from the start-accepting of my college friends during the hippie 60’s and loved to get into political discussions with them. And he was such a good "Grandpa Joe” to my David-unfortunately Laura never knew him since he died during my pregnancy with her. My Mom was very stoic and never complained, but I know she missed Joe a lot. The holidays were always especially hard for her after he died. I was never successful in lifting her spirits around Christmas, no matter what I did. I think she especially missed just having him there to make little decisions with her-like what color to paint a room-something like that-she’d mention those sorts of things. She treasured her relationship with Joe’s family and was very glad that she kept in touch after his death. My dad’s family did not make much attempt to do this after he died.”

His family was poor and he put himself through school while parenting his younger siblings, as their mother died when he was a teenager. He was a bright, solitary man according to his daughter. He died suddenly of a heart attack when his daughter Mary was 16.

He was born in Ely, Minnesota and moved with his parents and siblings in 1916 to 314 Third Street South, Virginia, Minnesota. In 1922 he was a bookkeeper for his father’s grocery and still lived with his parents and siblings at 314 Third Street South, Virginia, Minnesota. In 1928 he was a student at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis and lived at 629 Fifteenth Avenue South East. By this date he had changed his name to Mackavick. He graduated from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, on 11 June 1928 with a Bachelor of Science in Business degree. He was living in Chicago in 1935. On 13 December 1941 he was working for Western Electric Company in Chicago, Illinois. On 8 September 1942 he enlisted in the U.S. Army and was discharged on 13 August 1945. From September to November 1942 he received basic training at Sheppard Field, Wichita Falls, Texas. In November 1942 he was sent to Smyrna Air Base, Smyrna, Tennessee. From December 1942- October 1943 he was at McDill Field, Tampa, Florida. He had a furlough home to Virginia in November 1943 and then in December 1943 reported to Albrook Air Base and Rio Hato Air Base, both in Panama, where he was stationed until at least April 1945 as a Sergeant in the Army Air Force. He was a tower controller, directing airplane traffic. After World War II he returned to Chicago to work at Western Electric Company and lived at 281 East Oneida Avenue, Elmhurst, Illinois with his first wife Mae. His neighbor, Mr. Sado Ficarratto, died suddenly on 4 November 1965. Joe worked for Western Electric until his retirement about March 1, 1968, age 65, to take care of Mae, who died in September 1968. After Mae’s death he and Mrs. Ficarratto married and lived in her house at 282 East Oneida, Elmhurst, Illinois 60126 until he died on 3 December 1980.

GPS grave.
First marriage
What was his middle name?