Mary Lou Feeney, 77, died Friday, November 9, at home in Toms River. Born Mary Louise Williams in Orange, NJ, to Ann and Russell Williams, she grew up as the middle of three sisters in West Orange and attended Our Lady of the Valley High School. She went on to attend St. Joseph College in Emmitsburg, MD, and began teaching elementary school in New Jersey upon graduation.
In 1968, she married Earl Feeney, of Long Branch, NJ. She and Earl had two children, Elizabeth and Douglas, and settled in Toms River in 1973. Mary Lou resumed teaching once her children were school aged, and for many years taught sixth grade at Hooper Avenue Elementary, retiring in 2004. In retirement, she continued to tutor individual students, often working with families for years.
Mary Lou was a member of St Joseph’s Catholic Church, where she and Earl served as “church mice” and volunteered with the counting ministry. She was active in her high school and college alumni associations, and enjoyed staying in touch with her former classmates and planning informal get-togethers as well as more elaborate reunions. She and Earl traveled often, taking cruises to numerous countries throughout the world, including Ireland, Russia, Italy, Spain, France, and Panama. She was a great fan of the musician Bobby Byrne, and often joined the tours he organized in the Caribbean and elsewhere, having (as she would say) “lots of laughs” with relatives and friends old and new.
Mary Lou was a devoted wife, mother, grandmother, sister, aunt, daughter, cousin, and friend. She is survived by Earl, her husband of fifty years; her daughter Elizabeth, of Philadelphia; her son Douglas and daughter in law Laura, of Scottsdale, AZ, and Cardiff by the Sea, CA; her beloved grandsons Miles and Graham Asali, of Philadelphia; her sister Nancy and brother in law Bill Yaeger, of Wayne, NJ; her brother in law Raymond and his wife Carol Walsh, of Downingtown, PA; and numerous nieces, nephews, and their children. She is predeceased by her parents and her sister, Barbara Walsh.
Visitation for friends and family will be held Tuesday, November 13, from 4-8 pm at the Quinn-Hopping Funeral Home in Toms River. A funeral Mass will be said on Wednesday, November 14 at 10 am at St. Joseph’s Church, followed immediately by interment at Ocean County Memorial Park.
SHARE OBITUARY
v.1.8.18