Obituary of Auy McCasland

McCASLAND, Audrey Barbara (Leech Hopewell Holroyd) McCasland, 82 years old, went to be home with her Heavenly Father on December 9, 2010, surrounded by her loving family at the Groton Nursing Facility. She was born on December 7, 1928 in London, England , the daughter of Albert and Marjorie Leech, but was raised by her Aunt Peggie and Uncle Hugo Staub. During World War II, she came to the United States on January 26, 1941, settling in Santa Barbara, California. She attended many schools in California, Maryland, Vermont, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. On June 8, 1946, she graduated from Edgewood School in Greenwich, Connecticut and worked at Banque Belge Pour LEstranger on Wall Street in New York City. On July 12, 1947, she married Wallace Bruce Hopewell and they had four daughters. On March 14, 1958, she became a naturalized citizen. She lived in Huntington Station, Long Island until 1960 when she moved to the Cortland / McGraw area. While living in Solon, she owned and operated the Pleasant View Riding Stable. In 1966, she moved to Virgil. On April 4, 1970, she married Gordon Holroyd, until his death on May 2, 1983. On October 26, 1985, she married Ulric (Ric) McCasland, until his death on August 3, 2005. Audrey was a Brownie and Girl Scout Leader, 4-H Club Leader, Pioneer Girl Leader, and Childrens Church Worker. Since 1981, she attended the Assembly of God Church, Homer Baptist Church, Memorial Baptist Church, and is currently a member of Cornerstone Church . She attended several Bible Study Programs and enjoyed volunteering her time with the Childrens Sunday School Program at Grace Christian Fellowship and the Sidewalk Sunday School Program on Wednesday nights at Cornerstone Church. She worked at Smith Corona in the Purchasing Department; Cortland Line Company in the Accounting Department; Farm and Home Meats as a Sales Associate, and part-time at Dasher Cox Restaurant in Homer. For 10 years, she owned and operated the Blue Barn Tack Shop in Virgil. She was a volunteer Advocate with A.W.V.V. (Advocate for Women of Victims and Violence) and a Rape Crisis Counselor for ten years. She organized and facilitated the AWAKE Program (a battering mens support group) and the WIN Program (a support group for female victims). She enjoyed swimming, gardening, and reading, and was an enthusiastic horseback rider, owned four horses and participated in many trail rides. She is survived by many loving family members and friends including her four daughters, Peggie (Larry) Petrie, Terry (David) Sands, Robin (Dennis) Williams, and Wendy (Michael) Mauch, nine grandchildren, Missy Coombs Brown, Christa Canfield, Roy Petrie (Mae Holden), Rebecca Petrie, Lorrie (Mike) Egan, Lynn Schmidtbonacker, David (Valerie) Sands, Matthew (Candice) Young, and Kevin Young (Amanda Walker); nineteen great-grandchildren, John Williams, Elizabeth Rawson, Katelynn Rawson, Zachary Egan, Rachel Egan, Branden Brown, joshua Brown, Camrin Brown, Elyssa Gerchak, Victoria Schmidtbonacker, Connor Canfield, Alexa Canfield, Dylan Sands, Kayla Sands, Breannah Sands, Abigail Sands, Timothy Young, Gavin Young, and Dominik Petrie, and one great great-grandchild, Emilli Griffiths. The family will receive friends on December 13, 2010 from 1:00 €“ 2:00 p.m. and the funeral services will begin at 2:00 p.m. at Wright Beard Funeral Home, 9 Lincoln Avenue, Cortland, New York 13045 , with Rev. Barry Kerner officiating. Interment will be in Glenwood Cemetery in Homer, New York in the spring of 2011. Friends and family are invited to Cornerstone Church, 236 Main Street, Cortland, New York immediately following the service for a reception. Contributions can be made to the Cortland Community SPCA, 879 McLean Road, Cortland, New York 13045, in memory of Audrey McCasland.