Family and friends will gather at St. Mary’s Faith Community, 9520 W. Forest Home Ave. in Hales Corners on Tuesday, June 13, 2023 from 12:00 PM – 1:45 PM.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 2:00 PM.

In lieu of flowers, memorials to St. Mary’s Faith Community are appreciated.

Eugene  T.  Comiskey

Born to Eternal Life June 2, 2023, age 92 years. Beloved husband of Blanche for 63 years.  Loving father of Patrick (Laura Civiello), Catherine (Bob) Hartman, Michael (Ellen), Thomas, Mark (Carol Porter) and John (Chandra).  Further survived by 12 grandchildren, a great-granddaughter, a brother, other relatives and friends.

Eugene Thomas Comiskey was born in Milwaukee on June 21, 1930, the third child of William and Lillian Comiskey. He was raised in Wauwatosa and attended Wauwatosa Senior High School (later “East”), where he excelled in swimming and diving; in his senior year he took fourth place in one meter diving at the annual state competition.

He attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he studied economics, and pledged with the Sigma Chi fraternity. Upon completing his studies he was drafted and deployed to Korea from 1953 to 1955, where he served as a high speed radio operator and communications expert.

With partner Duane Dunham he helped found Community Newspapers, a string of weekly journals that chronicled events in the necklace of suburbs surrounding the city of Milwaukee. Starting with just two weeklies in 1956, the company grew to more than twenty distinct entities, with names like the Greendale Village Life, the Greenfield Observer, and the Hales Corners Hub. In its heyday Gene was their advertising director, selling ads and helping with layout and production from their offices and printing facility in Oak Creek. His years visiting local businesses, shops and restaurants contributed to his social dexterity; he remained a people person his entire adult life.

In 1959, he met Blanche Freischle at a dinner at her sister’s home in Milwaukee. As if struck by a thunderbolt he fell hard for this stunning Northwoods beauty; after a whirlwind romance they were married in January, 1960. Less than a year later Patrick, the first of six children, was born.

Gene and Blanche raised their children—Patrick, Catherine, Michael, Thomas, Mark and John—in Greendale, Wisconsin. He loved being a father–there were game nights, many many sports contests, long evenings listening to music; his love for music was something his children inherited, as well as his love for sports. He was a lifelong golfer; in his prime he was a 7 handicap. He also loved swimming and basketball, both of which he excelled at, referring to himself on the basketball court as “The Master.” While he never played soccer, most of his sons and daughter did, and he became their biggest booster.

Gene and Blanche enjoyed a rich life, hosting dinners and get-togethers surrounded by scores of friends and relatives, many of whom had large families themselves. Their social life was greatly abetted by Blanche’s cooking prowess, taking full advantage of the fact she was daughter to a chef. Gene ate and drank everything with relish—there was nothing on his ‘don’t’ list. For many years Gene belonged to the International Wine & Food Society, and with his friend Terry Mueller hosted lavish wine-themed multi-course dinners. There were spanferkels (suckling pig roasts) and barbecues, progressive feasts, sausage making parties, plenty of food and plenty of drink to go around.

He loved music and musicians—he married one, of course. For their honeymoon Gene and Blanche went to New York, where they saw many jazz greats as well as Broadway musicals. But his great love was classical music; with his wife he regularly attended the opera and the symphony. His home stereos and car radios were tuned only to WFMR (Milwaukee’s classical station) and he was such an avid listener that when the station aired ‘name-that-tune’ musical passages, he was inevitably first on the line with the answer. He won so many tickets and free CDs that the station asked him to limit his calls to once a month.

His retirement years he spent in the company of his family, now with twelve grandchildren, swimming and playing golf well into his eighties, traveling with his wife to Europe, regular trips to California and Arizona on family visits, and to Australia to visit his beloved nephew Mike and wife Louise.

He was a man of deep faith, a lifelong Catholic who attended Mass with unceasing devotion, even (remotely) in his last years at an assisted living facility. When younger he loved to deliver readings from the lectern at St. Alphonsus, his longtime parish.

Finally, he was—how to put it?—kind of a rascal. He loved having fun, loved a good party (he LOVED his birthday, insisting on cake and as many candles as could fit onto its surface). In his youth he was part of a secret society of friends who called themselves the A.H.B.s (not printable here, but involving posterior anatomy) who routinely got into high jinks. This part of him mellowed beautifully as he got older and became a father, instilling in his children a deep appreciation of humor, mischief and wordplay. Friends would look forward to his annual Christmas card poem, which updated the world on family adventures and was replete with witticisms and groaners alike.

He loved to compete in games with kids and grandkids, schooling all takers on poker, dice, gin, and Scrabble. He loved road trips, camping, treks in the woods, grilling over an open fire, hot dogs and brats, biting into s’mores. He was known for wolfing down dinner then announcing to his kids that twilight golf was happening. Everyone piled into the car to squeeze in nine holes at the local course; inevitably the last few holes would be played without anyone being able to see the flag, the cup, or the ball as it sailed into the night.