Colleen Marie McKerracher

Colleen McKerracher of Westland, Michigan, died at Livonia’s Angela Hospice on August 6, 2022 after a courageous battle with brain cancer. She was 72. Born on January 23, 1950, to the late John and Doris Hanley, Colleen was the third of the Hanley family’s ten children. She attended St. Scholastica grade school in Detroit and graduated from Redford High School in 1968. Colleen’s lifelong mantra was: “You gotta keep moving.” She did just that from the time of her teenage years when she competed in artistic roller skating at the Dearborn Rollerdrome; to adulthood on the long hikes she took with her husband, Howard, through over 40 parks of the of the U.S. National Park System. It was at the roller rink that she first met Howard, a competitive speed skater, at age 14. More than a decade later they married, in 1978, but only after her sense of independence took her to Long Beach, California, where she resided for a few years, and his took him traveling through Europe. Married for 43 years, they attended the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid before starting a family. Colleen was the mother of two children, Amy and Jeff, and the family traveled extensively throughout the country for Amy’s dance competitions, as well as to Canada for Jeff’s hockey tournaments. Throughout it all, Colleen worked a variety of part-time jobs at Daly’s, Toys R Us, a video store, and at home preparing auto parts for a chroming-like process. As her children prepared to leave home for college, she began to work full time on engine assembly at Detroit Diesel until her retirement in 2010. She was a proud member of the UAW. It was around the time of her retirement that Colleen and Howard purchased a fifth wheel that they trailered to national parts, state parks, and warm weather destinations with close friends and relatives. Also, there were vacations to Alaska, the Galapagos Islands, Machu Picchu and many other destinations over the years. Moreover, they hiked together to the bottom of the Grand Canyon where they spent several days at the Phantom Ranch. In 2012 they began spending winters at Siesta Bay RV Resort in Fort Myers, Florida, where Colleen “kept moving” every day with attendance at daily exercise-to-music classes, as well as frequent walks through Fort Myers area parks and along the beach on the Gulf of Mexico. In her spare time Colleen made over 50 scrapbooks featuring cherished photos and colorful designs, many of which she presented as gifts to family members and friends on special occasion. She also collected and assembled an estimated 170 boxes of jigsaw puzzles. However, the thing that gave her the most joy was interacting with her grandchildren, Davis and Leah. Again, seemingly always on the move, the image persists of Colleen getting down on the floor to play football with Davis or running through the grass to play with Leah. It is difficult to adequately convey the authentic “who” of an individual, but perhaps the following comes close for Colleen McKerracher: She was a humble, genuine and selfless person. Someone who was always there, always in the corner of dispirited, ailing or grieving friends and family. And she could light up a room by simply walking through the door with her radiant smile and saying, “Hi.” She will be forever missed. Colleen is survived by her loving husband, Howard; daughter Amy (Eric) Bower; son Jeff (Kyla) McKerracher; grandchildren Davis and Leah Bower; sister Marty Stafford; brother Mike (Diane) Hanley; sister Shauna Palmer; sister Pat (Jim) Dunn; and brothers Tim, Kevin, Brian (Tonya) and Terry Hanley. She is also survived by dozens of nieces, nephews, and close friends. She was predeceased in death by her sister Kerry Hild. Visitation Thursday, August 11th 2-8 PM at Vermeulen-Sajewski Funeral Home, 980 N. Newburgh Road (between Ford Road and Cherry Hill) Westland. Funeral Service Friday, August 12th 11 AM at the funeral home. Memorial contributions may be made to Angela Hospice, 14100 Newburgh Road, Livonia, MI 48154. To share a memory, please use the Share a Memory tab on this web page.

Colleen Marie McKerracher

January 23, 1950 - August 6, 2022