Mary C McIsaac

March 10, 1939 – March 1, 2026

Mary McIsaac (Carnes) Loving wife, mother and grandmother, passed away peacefully on March 1, 2026, at her home in Encinitas, California with her family by her side. She was the wife of John McIsaac, who survives her and with whom she celebrated sixty-four years of marriage in August 2025. She was the daughter of the late Francis and Helen (Reardon) Carnes. Born on March 10, 1939 in Somerville, MA, Mary graduated from Girls Latin School in 1956. She attended Newton College of the Sacred Heart and graduated in 1960 with a degree in Philosophy. Her life from start to finish was, in her own wonderful words, “Mostly Marvelous.”

She settled with John in Newtonville, MA in 1965 where they raised their three daughters. Mary was preceded in death by her daughter Lee, and is survived by her daughters Debby (Frank) and Kristin (Richard), granddaughter Jordan (Erhan), and son-in-law Jan.

In 1978, she went back to school and received her master’s degree in counseling from Boston College along with a counseling practicum at Harvard. After graduation, she built the career counseling program at Regis College in Weston, MA where she served the needs of students, alumni and the community. She went on to found the Center for Life and Work Planning in Encinitas in 1985, a full-service Career Development firm that she ran for 35 years. In addition to her client-based work, she also taught courses at UCSD as part of the Career Counseling Certificate program, was a speaker at various conferences, and was an active member of the American Counseling Association and the National Association of Career Counselors.

As someone with a very large extended family, Mary spent many happy vacations visiting with her relatives on Cape Cod near Falmouth and in Ogunquit, Maine diving off the rocks at Narrow Cove or swimming across the tidal river. She shared her love for nature with John and her young girls by camping for many years at the Wellfleet Bay Audubon Sanctuary on Cape Cod. A deep love for ocean swimming (regardless of the temperature) and long walks on the beach was sparked by those early days in Maine and Cape Cod and stayed with her throughout her life.

She was a friend to all and was loved for her quick wit, wonderful sense of humor, and spontaneity. She loved great music and great writing. All these loves found expression in one of her favorite titles – Poet. She loved the process of letting the words flow and shape themselves into an expression that captured a moment in time, a spark of beauty in nature, a deep insight, or a playful spin. Until just a week before her passing, she was writing poems and participating in her favorite poetry circle, surrounded by fellow poets who were dear friends.

Above all, Mary’s life was lived with deep faith and love for God. She spent most of her adult life as an active member of Self-Realization Fellowship, where she learned how to meditate and apply to her life the wisdom of great souls from all religions. For many years she served as the coordinator of SRF’s Boston Meditation Group, including having the group meet at her home. She studied spiritual teachings with the enthusiasm of a lifelong learner, always eager to keep her heart and mind uplifted and in tune with God and the great ones.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations in her memory to The Institute for Poetic Medicine or to Self-Realization Fellowship.