Martin John "Marty" Deignan Jr.
Age 85, of Winona, MN, formerly of Monroe, WI, passed away peacefully Sunday, May 1, 2022, at Callista Court Assisted Living in Winona.
Marty was born in Beloit, WI, on January 20, 1937, to Martin John Deignan and Josephine Lillian Murphy and grew up in Edgerton, WI. He was a 1955 graduate of Edgerton High School where he found great enjoyment and many successes playing football, basketball, tennis, and baseball. Marty went on to pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees in physical education, from the University of Notre Dame in 1959 and UW-Madison in 1967. On June 25, 1960, he married Mary Margaret Solheim at St. Ann Catholic Church in Stoughton, WI. He was drafted into the U.S. Army that same summer and spent a majority of his two-year tenure at Fort Benjamin Harrison in Indiana.
Marty enjoyed a 35-year teaching and coaching career with the Monroe Public Schools. He served as the Cheesemakers’ head baseball coach for ten years and was the assistant boys’ basketball coach for 12 seasons. He also spent seven seasons as an assistant girls’ basketball coach.
Marty was passionate about providing opportunities for physical activity and recreation of all sorts. He spent 25 years on the Monroe Park Board, helping create and oversee recreational opportunities for all ages. Starting in 1980, he transformed the Monroe Little League baseball program, taking it from a daytime program with 50 children playing in the afternoons into a program involving 400 players and volunteers and 22 participating teams. He taught tennis with the Park and Recreation Department for nearly the entire time he resided in Monroe. He led the local Kiwanis Basketball Program for 13 years.
In order to support his growing family, Marty developed his own summer “Monroe Sports School” that he ran out of the St. Victor’s school gym for 11 years. Kids worked on skills in baseball, basketball, and overall fitness by running through stations and tracking their progress. Participants were tested on a variety of skills in order to improve individual performance and set standards that other kids could aspire to. For hundreds of Monroe youth and his own children, it was a highlight of summer.
Marty was an active WIAA basketball, baseball, and football official and also a USTA collegiate tennis official. Marty believed strongly in providing quality sport and recreational activities, as well as promoting the rules, knowledge, and sportsmanship necessary for successful participation. Sportsmanship was always a key ingredient in all of Marty’s programs over the years as he strongly and consistently encouraged respect for all players, coaches, and officials as a means of maintaining the integrity of all people and the games we play.
Marty was a member of the Catholic Church, affiliated with St. Joseph’s in Edgerton, St. Victor’s in Monroe, and St. Thomas Aquinas in Madison. Over the years, he was actively involved with the Knights of Columbus and various aspects of parish leadership, as well as the liturgical ministries of lectoring and communion distribution. Marty was unabashedly proud of his Irish heritage, especially enjoying his travels to Ireland and reveling in Celtic music and culture wherever he found it.
Relocating to Madison in his retirement years, Marty moved from organizer to participant. From his new home at All Saints Neighborhood, he travelled nationally and internationally and took many trips downhill skiing, hiking, or roller blading, as well as joining many Road Scholar adventures. Closer to home, he played tennis regularly, enjoyed all the Wisconsin state parks, and attended countless theater and musical events.
Marty was preceded in death by his wife Mary (in 1986), two infant children, and two grandchildren. He is survived by his one sister Patricia Mages, his one sister-in-law Sandy Solheim, his many nieces and nephews, and his ten children: Annmarie (Tom) DeMarais, Patrick (Carol) Deignan, Teresa (Michael) Naughton, Michael (Michelle) Deignan, John (Antonia) Deignan, Colleen (Dan) Koll, Maureen (Jim) Tostrud, Katy (Brian) McGrane, Joseph (Megan) Deignan, Sara (Travis) Thompson. He is further survived by 42 grandchildren and 17 great grandchildren, and faithful friend and companion these last 20 years, Marge Mead.
The family wishes to gratefully acknowledge the attentive and caring staff at Callista Court and Winona Health Hospice who partnered with us as we walked with Dad these last months of his life. To the very end, Marty remained a man in motion.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Monday, May 9, 2022, at 12:00 p.m. at St. Clare of Assisi Parish at St. Victor Catholic Church with Father Tafadzwa Kushamba officiating. Interment will be in Calvary Cemetery, Monroe, followed by a luncheon at St. Victor School. Visitation will precede the mass beginning at 9:00 a.m. on May 9. Memorials are suggested to Monroe Park and Recreation Department or Callista Court Assisted Living. The Newcomer Funeral Home, Monroe, is assisting the family. Condolences may be shared at www.newcomerfuneralhome.net
