Christina Muriel Deegan

Christina Muriel Deegan, 72, a longtime resident of Bloomington, Indiana, passed away peacefully on Tuesday, December 21, 2019. She was the daughter of John Deegan and Muriel (Dunbar) Deegan. Christina was born in the summer of 1947 in Wallasey, England, across the River Mersey from Liverpool. It was a difficult time, still very much in the aftermath of the Second World War, and there were shortages of food and fuel. Her father had been a prisoner of war in Italy and Germany for most of the war and was then training to be a teacher, courtesy of a government program for retiring military personnel. Christina was a bright pupil. She was a popular student and played a full part in the school’s life, playing field hockey and tennis. She did well enough to earn a place at King’s College in London where she read for a degree in English. Christina had been just the right age to see the rise of the Mersey sound from its earliest days to its international fame. She went occasionally to the Cavern Club in Liverpool where she was lucky enough to see those groups, including the Beatles, perform live on stage. In 1967 she was again the right age to be at the center of “Swinging England” and during summer vacation she got a job on the reception desk at the newly opened Playboy Club on Park Lane. The next year she transferred to Essex University to do a degree in Latin American studies. As part of the program she studied at the University of Granada and at the end of the year she stayed on to work in Spain and Portugal. Eventually she returned to Liverpool where she completed her degree in Latin American studies. She continued to Manchester Polytechnic where she earned a master’s degree in personnel management. She was hired by a textile manufacturer in Manchester as a human resources director. She managed the factory store outlet and set up an employee daycare center. She also handled union negotiations and travelled between the company’s three factories in northern England and Scotland. Christina moved into a lovely terraced cottage in the countryside near Marple Bridge on the edge of the Peak District National Park. Around that time she met her future husband, Jim Amstutz, who was in Manchester at a VIP party for the opening of McDonald’s Corporate Headquarters for northern England. The ground floor of the headquarters was a showcase of McDonald’s. Jim had installed the kitchen and was the UK installation manager. Christina was at the party with Manchester’s Chamber of Commerce. Jim saw her from across the crowded room and went to talk to her. From that day on they were together. They soon went on what Christina called their Transatlantic Elopement and they flew to the States to be married and had a short honeymoon in Niagara Falls, New York. In the next year they bought a house in the same valley as Christina’s cottage. It was called Blackberry Hall or, as the locals called it, The Blackberries. It had been built during the Industrial Revolution and needed major work including rebuilding forty-eight inch thick stone walls. Christina took on the job of construction manager and oversaw the restoration. Their son Jamie was born there and they spent five idyllic years at The Blackberries. In 1989 Jim was transferred to Indiana. Once again Christina reinvented herself. She enrolled at Indiana University and completed programs in fine arts, graphic design, and computer science. On completion she opened her business, Blackberry Press, which she ran for the next twenty-six years. Christina was a beautiful, loving, and interesting person. She spoke four languages and bits of a couple more. She loved reading, travel, painting, drawing, theater, and music from opera to Motown. And of course, she loved the Beatles. Christina and Jim were regulars at IU Opera, IU Theater, and Jacobs School of Music events. She was on the boards of IU’s Friends of Art and the Serious Mac Users Group. She donated her printing and design services to several organizations including Hoosiers for a Commonsense Health Plan. Christina loved people. She and Jim took foreign students on field trips around the state and hosted them for holiday dinners at their home. Jim remembers her as the most honest and loyal person he has ever known and says that life will not be as good without her. She will be loved and missed by Jim and their son Jamie as well as her many friends from around the world. Christina is survived by her husband, Jim Amstutz, and their son Jamie (Kumming, China). She also leaves behind her stepsons Douglas, Thomas, and Steven Amstutz (Toledo, Ohio) as well as her loving and supportive brother John Deegan (Pebworth, Stratford-On-Avon). A celebration of Christina’s life is planned, at a later date. Online condolences, photos, and memories may be shared with family and friends at www.allencares.com

Tributes

Christina Muriel Deegan

July 31, 1947 - December 21, 2019