Mary Catherine Saffran

On May 2, 2024, Mary Catherine Saffran (nee Horner); beloved wife of the late Joseph Andrew Saffran, Jr.; devoted mother of John Saffran, Frances Long (John), Patricia Clark (Roddy), Michael Saffran, Sr. (Sharon); dear grandmother of Dane, Michelle, Rachel, Sarah, Brianna, Michael Jr., and Luke; sister of William, Joseph, and the late Charles and John Horner.

The family will receive friends at the Schimunek Funeral Home, 9705 Belair Road, Nottingham, MD 21236 on Monday, May 6, 2024, from 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 PM. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at Saint Clement Mary Hofbauer Catholic Church on Tuesday, May 7, 2024, at 10:30 AM. Interment Holly Hill Memorial Gardens. A Christian Wake Service will be held at 7:30 PM.

OBITUARY

Mary Catherine Horner Saffran -- Mare, Mom, Grandmom, Mrs. Saffran, Ms. Mary, or however you knew her as, was born on October 9, 1932 to Frances and Charles Horner. Mary was the middle child of five children. She had four sibling brothers, two older and two younger. You can only imagine how it was being the only daughter with 4 rowdy brothers to live with. Mary spent the younger part of her life attending Saint Clement Catholic School and being involved in many church activities. She was attending the parish school when it had its first fire that nearly destroyed the upper class rooms.

She spent her entire life in the Chesaco Park neighborhood. Through the years she spent much of her time volunteering at church alongside her parents and brothers. Mary graduated from The Catholic High School of Baltimore and after high school she decided to further her education by attending college and eventually she would graduate with an Associates of Art degree in accounting.

Mary met the love of her life at a CYO event at St. Benedicts Catholic Church that she had no interest in attending; however, her girlfriends dragged her to it. She married this young debonair young man by the name of Joseph Andrew Saffran. Jr. and started a new life together in the same area she grew up in that would span 56 years.

Mary and Joe honeymooned in Niagara Falls and enjoyed taking their children there on future trips. This was one of their favorite vacation destinations. She lived to serve her family, especially her husband. When Joe came home from work she would have dinner sitting on the table, all the children would be seated at the table with their homework done for the day, waiting for dad to walk in the door to eat. Mary and Joe did everything together. They of course raised their family together, but even after the children were grown and had moved on, they were never found apart.

Mary and Joe bought ground in Chesaco Park and built their first and only home. Then they welcomed into the world four beautiful children: John, Frances, Patricia and Michael. Their church had already been a very important part of Mary’s life and this still continued. Mary and Joseph were the ideal parishioners and volunteers. They could be found at church volunteering at chicken dinners, counting money in the bingo cage and many other activities. They met many of their friends at church. Mary and Joe learned quickly with a family of four Children things were not cheap. They put their children through Saint Clement Catholic School and then through The Catholic High School of Baltimore and Archbishop Curley High School. Because of this dedication to her children’s education she learned quickly how to get blood out of a turnip. Mary and Joe were not rich in money but were rich in love. To help pay the bills Mary got her first job working alongside her mother at the polling place. She later became the secretary at Saint Clements that would span twenty + years. She worked alongside Joe at bingo in the cage again counting money. She became the church holiday decorator taking all four of her children to help her move the flowers and statues for her. She later got involved in the weekend mass money counters. As her children started to get involved in church and community activities she could be found volunteering at not only church functions but also different boy and girl scouting functions. Mary watched her family grow up with the knowledge they gained in girl scouts and was the proud mother of two eagle scouts. Mary became the room mother for all four of her children at different times in their education. She was proud of them all as one by one they got married and started having families of their own.

Mary was a very independent woman. She was the family driver, the family disciplinary, the cook, cleaner, and leader. How does it go, chief cook and bottle washer. She wore the pants! When it came to discipline, it wasn’t wait until your father got home but rather we prayed that dad would come home early to save us! She did not like when attention was drawn to her. She preferred to be behind the scenes.

Entertainment for the Saffran family was growing vegetables, picking fruits, and camping. Her favorite crop was string beans. Mary could never figure out why the first five feet of each string bean row didn’t have beans on them until many years later when she discovered her children played in the bean crop and would hide from her there because they were eating the beans. Beans were their candy.

They never bought vegetables. During the growing season everything they ate came from the garden and no surplus was wasted. She could be found many nights at her Aunt Cas’ house in the basement canning: corn, peas, lima beans, tomatoes, spring onions, bread and butter pickles, peaches and string beans.

She loved taking her family to Wye River to go crabbing, but only with hand lines. No traps or motor, just two oars and arm strength from one side of the river to the other. Lunch and drinks were brought from home, typically spam sandwiches or peanut butter sandwiches and ice tea. Tea was one of Mary’s favorite drinks. Occasionally she also enjoyed a nice glass of wine or a whiskey sour.

Mary loved country music and she took the family on a trip to Tennessee to visit the Grand Ole Opry. She enjoyed camping at Elk Neck State Park and Shad Landing State Park. She would tag along with Sharon and Mike on many of their one day adventures never knowing what she would be instore for. On one occasion they dropped her car off to get an oil change planning to pick it up later and then went to the Green Dragon Flea Market in Pennsylvania. Mary thought she was going to a small flea marker. Little did she know this was going to be an all day adventure at a 60 acre flea market. When they finally came home sometime after dark Sharon and Mike laughed so hard watching her walk to the car. She walked like she had a load in her pants.

Mary always liked to sew. She made numerous trips to JoAnn Fabric’s where she bought many patterns and bolts of fabrics. She would then spend the next month cutting out and sewing together to make beautiful dresses for the girls when they were young. She also sewed art aprons for the grandkids when they were in pre-K to keep the many types of craft paints off their clothing. She became the sewing mother for the boy scouts and girl scouts sewing countless patches on the uniforms.

Many trips were taken to different vacation destinations in the family station wagon. For overnight trips we would sleep in our family tent. Hotels and eating out were for rich people, people with money. We didn’t go out to eat and didn’t know what fast food was. Imagine us trying to date and not having a clue where to take our dates or what to say when asked “where do you want to go”. Mary always prepared wholesome meals for the family and everyone was happy. Family time was the best times.

Mary also loved baking and cooking. She was known in the community and family as the “donut lady” and “pie lady”. She didn’t make one or two pies, but rather it was a whole month event. Beginning in November with picking fresh apples, cumulating in 30 or so pies to share with family and friends. Picking one type of apple was unheard of in her recipe. We needed to pick at least six different types. She would make her own pie crust, cut the apples up, and prepare the pie. She never deviated into modern conveniences, such as buying apples at the super market or using frozen pie crust. Then when the apple pies were done she moved straight into pumpkin pies and made that another event in itself. Then not to be outdone she moved straight into sugar cookies. She enjoyed making tins, and tins, and tins of sugar cookies and distributing them at Christmas. Again, not one or two batches, but double figures. Her children and brothers were always first in line, followed by numerous friends. Another annual Saffran Christmas tradition was their train garden. Again, nothing small, but rather the whole basement consisting of 10 - 4X8 platforms of trains with every house, and accessory known to the train world. She enjoyed (or at least everyone thought) helping Joe complete the train garden to surprise their children on Christmas morning.

Mary also loved going strawberry picking and making strawberry shortcake. Every season was something different. Her children hope to carry on her many traditions and pass them on to their children and grandchildren.

Her fondest moment came at the birth of her first grandchild. She was as proud as a peacock. As her grandchildren multiplied she was deeply involved in their lives. The grandchildren became the center of her attention. As the saying goes the best thing about grandchildren is you can return them anytime you want. However, this DID NOT apply to her, she would actually get offended if someone was asked to watch the grandchildren over her.

Some of Mary’s favorite times were spent with her grandchildren. Her children think she loved them more than them!!! She was excited to get the crib and high chair out of the attic and use them for the next generation. Many, many nights were spent with grandmom and poppy. God forbid should we ask someone else be asked to watch the grandchildren. That would put all the kids in the dog house! Grandparents day at school was another experience. She visited 3 to 4 grammar schools in three different counties running from one school to the other to satisfy her grandchildren while always wondering why it wasn’t grandparents week instead of day.

Many weekends were spent in the family camper at Frontier Town. She enjoyed taking the grandkids on the lazy river, the kiddie pool, the playground and to play mini golf and doing the many crafts that were held at the pavilion. The family’s red kiddie wagon became the main means of transportation for the smallest children around the camp ground, often to put them to sleep for naps, transportation on the boardwalk and most getting the grandchildren sugared up by trick-or-treating before returning the grandkids to their parents. She even made a cushion to put in their wagon so that they were comfortable. She loved and adored her grandkids – in her eyes they couldn’t do anything wrong. She was game to do anything that her grandchildren were involved in. Contrary to Poppy, who didn’t like paying the admission price, she enjoyed going to the amusement parks and watching the grandkids have a good time.

After Sharon and Mike bought their Ocean City house she gave up Frontier Town and settled in with modern conveniences instead of a camper. Their house was right on the water and she would wake up early before everyone else and would be found on the pier crabbing. When she fell ill with kidney disease, she unfortunately had to be grounded from going out there by herself. This was probably when her children realized role reversal was starting. She was still allowed to go on the deck by herself and watch the boats go by, especially the pirate ship, which she enjoyed. During her Ocean City trips she loved eating at Bay Side Skillet, looked forward to playing mini golf and browsing at “Roses”, many times not buying a darn thing. No summer was complete without a visit to Thrashers for fries, Pony Tails for taffy in Chincoteague to see how taffy was made, and Fishers for popcorn.

Losing her love was one of Mary’s greatest tragedies. She was one of the strongest people I have ever known, often referred to as “Wonder Woman”. She continued to live, enjoying time with her children and grandchildren. As the grandchildren got older she enjoyed playing Rummy Cube and Uno with them. Alone time was spent playing Solitare and doing word find puzzles.

Eventually she did learn about fast food and embraced it. Her favorite places to eat was Burger King and Friendly Farms. Later she was introduced to Chic-fil-a milk shakes and Rita’s Italian Ice.

What can I say to sum up the life of this wonderful woman other than she loved life. She lived a very simple life full of love and compassion. Mary was a simple person. No makeup, no jewelry, no eating out, nothing fancy. She was true to her family and a very spiritual lady. She was always up for an adventure. Even if she wasn’t, she would go because she knew it was better to go willingly than be dragged. She was her family’s everything!!!

As we said Mary was a very spiritual lady and loved her religion, her church and her church family. Most of all she loved her God. She knew that this earth was not her home. We feel that is why she was not a materialistic woman. She didn’t need an abundance of wealth to be happy because God would provide. She didn’t want anything if she could not have Jesus Christ in her life. How could you love a god you didn’t know. She wanted everyone to experience his love. She knew she needed Jesus in her life and she instilled this in her children. She knew the kingdom of God was not on this earth, so she didn’t get settled in, for one day she would join Joe in the heavenly realm.