Mary Cahill

Longtime Downey resident Mary Margaret “Peg” Keogh Cahill died Sunday, September 22, 2013 in Seal Beach, California. She was 96. Mary lived in Downey from 1950 until 2003 and was an active member of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish. Even after moving to Orange County, she continued to think of Downey as her home.

Mary was born in Los Angeles, California on November 15, 1916. She attended All Souls Elementary School and Ramona Convent in Alhambra, and Immaculate Heart College in Los Angeles. She and husband Frank were married in 1940 and lived in South Gate until December 1950 when they bought a house in Downey to accommodate their family of six. Mary was a fulltime mom to her children and perennial den mother for her son’s Cub Scouts and her daughters’ Juniorettes troops.

When their youngest child entered high school, Frank urged Mary to return to college to complete a long-deferred bachelor’s degree in English. She achieved that goal at Long Beach State and went on to earn her secondary teaching credential as well as a Master of Arts degree in special education. She began her teaching career at Griffith Junior High in the late 1960s and later transferred to Downey High School where she taught special education until her retirement in 1982.

Mary loved to keep busy and her calendar was always full. A lifelong learner, she enjoyed extensive travel across America and Europe, from Russia to the British Isles and most countries in between, with several visits to her ancestral homeland Ireland. While completing her bachelor’s degree, she attended a summer program at Uppsala University in Sweden. After retirement she fulfilled two long-held dreams: She studied Shakespeare at Cambridge University’s International Summer School program and she made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and Egypt. Mary loved to dance and for many years took tap and dancercise classes. In her mid-eighties, she took a line dancing cruise to Mexico. For over ten years, Mary volunteered as a “pink lady” at Downey Community Hospital. At home she loved flower arranging, arts and crafts, reading, creative writing and journaling, and hosting tea parties for dear friends.

Mary was predeceased by Frank, her beloved husband of 47 years, in 1987, by her eldest daughter, Mary “Liz” Smith, in 2001 and by her only son, Thomas Cahill, in 1998. She is survived by daughter Kathleen O’Cahill, daughter and son-in-law Ann and Tom Sciortino, daughter-in-law Ann Cahill, nine grandchildren, five great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandchild. Two more great-grandchildren are expected in early 2014.

Mary lived out her faith in joyful service and deep appreciation of the blessings she counted daily. As she often told her daughters, “I’m a lucky old babe!” Mary will be remembered by her friends and family for her ever-present smile and her irrepressible joie de vivre.