Mary Jo Broderick
April 13, 1925 - October 10, 2024
Mary Jo Broderick passed away peacefully at home after a long, magnificent journey through life. Born in Lemoore, California, on April 13, 1925, Mary Jo lived almost to age 100. She was loved by her family, who cherished her strong will, spirit, character, and wit.
Mary Jo and brother Arthur E. Anderson came of age in the San Joaquin Valley during the Great Depression. Her father canvassed hard-hit towns like Hanford, Visalia and Coalinga, selling the marvel of electricity to rural places. Her mother taught third grade. During Mary Jo’s senior year at Dinuba High School, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and the Second World War erupted. Both her brother and father departed overseas, as did most every young man in her graduating class.
Despite hard times, a marvelous, charismatic aunt encouraged Mary Jo to attend UC Berkeley. She received her degree on a campus almost devoid of men. When brother Arthur returned from combat, he joined her at Cal, which set the stage for the fateful introduction to the love of her life, Henry J. Broderick, on the steps of Wheeler Hall. They married in 1947. She saw Henry through Stanford Law, JAG, and into private practice in San Francisco, then into service as a Superior Court judge in Marin County.
When Mary Jo and Hank moved to Tiburon in 1954, there was a stop sign at the interchange with US 101. Trains rattled the shoreline. Cows dotted the hills. Family photos reveal vast empty spaces in all directions. They settled first on Hilary Drive, and then — with the help of neighbors — moved over the hill to Rowley Circle, where they raised their four children.
Mary Jo wore grooves in the aisles at Embee’s, Boardwalk Market, and Cala Foods. Throughout the ’70s and ’80s, she prepared thousands of meals, each with silverware and a napkin on a table neatly set. A conch shell called her kids in for dinner. She was expert at feeding family on camping adventures, including week-long horse pack trips into the southern Sierra. Her homemade Gravenstein applesauce, Blenheim apricot biscotti, and persimmon cookies are family legend.
Mary Jo had a vibrant circle of friends that accompanied her through life. She played round robin tennis for 60 years, enjoyed many reunions with her sorority sisters, and hiked every trail on Tamalpais and beyond, clocking miles well into her 90s. With a few neighbors she formed an investment club to learn about stocks, managing household finances quite successfully. Her cooking talents took off after she and friends formed a gourmet club. She was always active and learning, whether it be reading her newspapers, tutoring English as a second language students, taking classes at College of Marin, traveling overseas, and mucking through DIY projects at home. She passed on to her family a love of opera, ballet, the symphony, and theater, as well as her competitive spirit in games — always a shrewd opponent at bridge, cribbage and dominoes.
As a parting gift to the place they called home, Mary Jo and Hank were instrumental in undergrounding utilities in the Del Mar Valley. They moved to San Rafael in 2010, where they enjoyed new friendships at Villa Marin. She faithfully cared for her husband as his health declined, and missed him tremendously after he passed in 2012. The joy of her family kept her actively engaged in life, while her circle of friends and acquaintances slowly diminished. Through it all, she remained stoic, classy, and beautiful — setting a standard that none of us will match, and all of us admire.
This amazing lady leaves four great-grandchildren and ten grandchildren. Predeceased by Henry, her brother Arthur E., and father Arthur A., and mother Josephine (Ivonof) Anderson, she is survived by daughter Christine (Ted Nelson) of San Francisco, and sons Jonathan (Doreen) of Cannon Beach, Oregon, Mathew (Carol) of Petaluma and James (Kara) of Sacramento.