Eileen M. Devers

DEVERS, EILEEN M., nee McCormick, on May 17, 2022, wife of the late Edward C Devers, Jr., mother of Natalie Hall, Cynthia Bollinger, Peter E., Michael J., Patrick J., Marie Jaskulka, and the late Edward III, Erin, and Elizabeth Devers, sister of Lois McCormick, Joseph McCormick, Kathleen Lamb, Rose Stegmerten, and the late Maryanne Volpe. Eileen Joan McCormick was born on August 22, 1939, the daughter of a Philadelphia homicide detective, Peter McCormick, who worked hard to shield his daughters from the gritty reality of crime. Eileen, however, liked to take his bag to the basement with her sisters and pore over all of the pictures and details of each case. At 18, Eileen married the love of her life, Edward C. Devers, Jr. They met when 15-year-old Eileen overheard Eddie telling a friend he wanted to learn how to dance. Eddie was just home from serving in the Korean war and had a car, so Eileen told him she'd teach him to dance if he took her to the dance at Willow Grove Park. They got married in 1958 and lived a few doors down from Eileen's parents on Crittenden Street. They had three beautiful children, Eddie III, Erin, and Elizabeth. Sadly, Ed and Eileen suffered a house fire in 1963 and lost all three children. Somehow, they got through this time with the help of their families, church, and community. In the following decades, Ed and Eileen raised six more kids and helped to raise a gaggle more, made up of foster children, their kids' friends, neighborhood kids around Roxborough and Manayunk, and eventually their children's children. They also counseled lots of couples through Marriage Encounter at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church. In the 1980s, Eileen attended a cocktail party where she talked her way into her first full-time job as an insurance agent, and soon became a successful businesswoman. When she wasn't raising kids or selling insurance, she loved to visit the boardwalk, especially the casinos, in Atlantic City. Eileen later retired to a country cottage "up the mountains" where she enjoyed quilting, cooking, Sudoku, saying the rosary, and spending time with friends and family. She spent her final years at Limerick Greene playing cards with her friends and enjoying dinners and sleepovers with her grandkids. If you ever met Eileen, she probably left you with a hug, some hardcore wisdom you weren't expecting from a lady, or a laugh—all three if you were lucky. Eileen volunteered to play the part of Mom for any soul who needed it. The world has lost one of its kindest and strongest hearts. She is reunited in Heaven with her beloved parents Matilda and Peter, her husband Eddie, and her three young children. Relatives and friends are being received on Wednesday June 15, 2022 from 10:00-10:45 AM in the Church at Saint Teresa of Calcutta Church, Schwenksville, followed by Mass at 11:00 a.m.