Jack Daly’s life is a journey of faith
Jack Daly proclaims the Sunday Mass readings at St. Mark’s Catholic Church in Boise. (Courtesy Photo/Mary Hersley-Kaineg)
John (Jack) Daly recently celebrated his 92nd birthday. He was born in Hempstead, New York, into an Irish Catholic family that took their faith seriously. Even in his nineties, he continues to participate actively in parish activities.
“Wherever I’ve been, I have remained active in parish work,” Daly said. “I love God, and I love my Catholic faith. I can’t imagine not being able to participate in the liturgy and the sacraments.”
The family home was in Garden City, New York, where they attended St. Joseph Church, and Jack received First Communion and Confirmation.
When it came time for college, Daly chose to study Architecture, beginning his studies at Catholic University in Washington, D.C.
To manage food and housing at the university, he found a place with a community of Franciscan friars. The priests were assisted by a small group of nuns who lived in quarters near the monastery. Jack was given a room and meals in exchange for serving as a “house boy,” helping the Sisters with laundry and other household chores. “It was a good fit for me,” mused Daly.
After three years at Catholic University, he finished his architectural studies at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. While pursuing his degree, Daly also participated in Newman Club activities and the Phi Kappa Catholic fraternity.
Upon graduation from college, he joined the Air Force, where Daly spent three years in Flight School. When he was released from the Air Force, he followed his heart and fulfilled a lifelong dream of moving West, first settling in Phoenix, Ariz., then moving to Flagstaff. Daly discovered the West was, indeed, where he was meant to be.
During this time, he met and eventually married his wife, Caroline. They remained active Catholics in each new place, raising their daughters in the Faith. When Boise Cascade hired Jack as head of its Manufactured Home Division, Idaho became their new home.
Jack began traveling the country with Boise Cascade, building houses from New Mexico to the North Slope of Alaska. “At one time, we were building three thousand homes a year,” Daly explained.
It was around this time that Jack and Caroline divorced. “Divorce is very sad for all concerned,” Daly said.” It was not a good time in our life, and certainly not something my faith encouraged,” he recalled. “But it was faith in our loving God that saw me through.”
One method Jack found to help him through this difficult time was a 5 a.m. run around his neighborhood. On several of these circles, Jack would run past a woman who was walking the same route. One day, he slowed down enough to chat. It took several weeks for the two to exchange names and actually get acquainted.
In time, he and Clarene Graves became good friends and eventually married. The first hurdle was an annulment. “Through much prayer and the compassion of the Marriage Advocates, we were able to work through a lengthy process,” Daly explained.
In the meantime, Daly accepted a job in Stockton, Calif. Clarene soon joined him and immediately enrolled in the RCIA (now called OCIA) program at her local Catholic Church. The Dalys were married in the same church in Stockton in 1987.
Clarene was a licensed and gifted Interior Decorator and soon began volunteering at the church, assisting the liturgy committee with décor and environment. The Dalys lived in that area for 13 years before moving permanently to Boise in 2001.
St. Mark’s parish was growing at that time, and something had to be done to build a larger church. It wasn’t long before the pastor noted and appreciated Jack’s experience in architecture. Jack soon became a building committee member whose job was to help advise the pastor.
The Dalys have since answered the call to serve in various parish ministries whenever extra help is needed.
Clarene has helped with the liturgical environment and currently serves as the coordinator of Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion for the evening Mass, at which she is also called upon to distribute the Eucharist. Jack is a reader at Mass, has volunteered at St. Mark’s Food Band and is captain of the Friday Perpetual Adoration team. In this capacity, Daly will often be found in St. Mark’s Adoration Chapel, praying through the hour for someone who can’t be there.
Jack and Clarene remain busy with church activities, civic organizations, traveling and keeping fit. “I believe in a balanced lifestyle,” Jack said. To that end, he has hiked many trails throughout the West, has visited many countries, and continues to walk at least two miles a day.
“Jack has an insatiable curiosity about life,” said Clarene in an interview earlier this year. “He is constantly studying and reading, especially about history.”
In late June, the Dalys traveled to Spain and Portugal, a journey which included a longship cruise of the Douro River. On the final days of the Cruise, Jack became ill.
“I thought I was just a cold,” he said, “but it quickly proved to be pneumonia.”
He was hospitalized in Barcelona, and Clarene went in search of a hotel. Several days later, Clarene became so ill she was unable to breathe. “I called a taxi, which transported me from the hotel to the emergency room,” she said. “I was immediately hospitalized in a different facility, across town from Jack, with COVID-caused pneumonia.”
Jack’s daughter, Peg, made arrangements to travel from Boise to Barcelona to assist her dad and stepmom in dealing with the tangle of foreign hospitalization, paperwork and language.
“There was a happy ending, though,” Jack said with a big grin.
With his background in architecture, he had often hoped to see the work of Antoni Gaudi, a famous architect who had designed the ornate basilica of La Sagrada Familia, located in Barcelona. “Peg was able to secure last-minute tickets and, somehow, even a tour of the church,” Jack continued. “It was even more magnificent than I had imagined.”
The Dalys were scheduled to return to Boise on July 11. Clarene’s doctor released her for international travel on July 25, more than two weeks later. Through it all, their Catholic faith sustained them.
“We are feeling good now,” said Jack, “but we’re still recovering.” For that, we can all say, “Praise God from Whom all blessings flow!”
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