Mari McCrohan
Mari O’Reilly McCrohan of Strawberry, a longtime former Tiburon resident, died Oct. 30, 2018, after a period of declining health. She was 90.
Mrs. McCrohan was born in Killorglin, County Kerry, Ireland. As a young woman, she worked in Dublin and London for several years — including a short stint as an Aer Lingus air hostess — before she moved to the United States to join her fiancé in San Francisco.
Before sailing, she hitchhiked around Europe in 1954, sleeping in the catacombs in Rome when funds grew tight near the end of her own version of a Grand Tour.
She and her husband, the late James F. McCrohan, were married in 1955 at Mission Carmel. They raised their children in San Francisco’s Forest Hill neighborhood before relocating to New York in 1967, taking a house in Cove Neck and then Cold Spring Harbor before returning to the Bay Area in 1974. They settled in Tiburon and their children attended local schools, including St. Hilary School, Marin Catholic High School and Redwood High School.
Mrs. McCrohan, who had worked for the Daniel Gale Real Estate agency in New York as an agent, started her real estate career in Tiburon as an agent for broker Rupert Jernigan in downtown Tiburon. She became a broker and hung out her own shingle.
A member of St. Hilary parish, she volunteered at the Tiburon Thrift Store and was active in the St. Hilary outreach group for many years.
From 1975 to 2017, she was an active volunteer with the Family Thrift Store of the Family Service Agency of Marin. As president of the Family Service League, which ran the thrift store, she served on the agency’s board of directors. The agency named her Volunteer of the Year in the late 1980s.
She was a longtime member of the Outdoor Art Club of Mill Valley and, for 20 years, served as reservations chair. She also volunteered for the American Cancer Society as a driver.
A passionate reader and collector of books on American and European history, she also loved a good mystery novel, especially anything by P.D. James. Possessed of a beautiful singing voice until her 60s, she loved classical music and opera, but late in life discovered Marianne Faithfull, Sting and Van Morrison and spent many hours listening to her CDs. She liked to browse antique stores.
She was known for her seemingly indefatigable energy, her love of driving and auto trips and her generous nature.
She had lived in Strawberry since 2013.
Her husband, James F. McCrohan, died in 1979. She is survived by five of her children, Deirdre McCrohan of Strawberry; Patricia Gondolfo of Millbrook, N.Y.; Elizabeth McCrohan-Castro of New Jersey; Kevin McCrohan of Australia; and Eileen McCrohan of New York City; two siblings, Kevin O’Reilly of Castlepollard, Ireland, and Bernadette Cullen of Dublin, Ireland; and five grandchildren. Her son James T. McCrohan died in 2013. A brother, Brendan, and a sister, Josephine, predeceased her.
A wake will be held at 6 p.m. Nov. 9 at Keaton’s Mortuary, 1022 E St., in San Rafael. Her funeral mass will be read at 11 a.m. Nov. 10 at St. Hilary Church, 761 Hilary Drive, Tiburon. A reception in the parish hall will follow.