Mary Patricia McCue

Mary Patricia Barden McCue died Thursday, January 31 at her home in the presence of her family. She was 93. The cause was congestive heart failure.



Mary was born January 24, 1920 in the Hells Kitchen section of Manhattan, the child of William Joseph Barden and Mary Cooper. She had an older sister, Margaret, with whom she was extremely close, and an older brother, Sonny, who died from drowning when Mary was a child. Two other siblings died of childhood illnesses before she was born.



Mary was a sickly child, and her parents sent her to Highland Falls, NY for the healthier air during summers when she was young. As a result, she developed a deep love for the Hudson River Valley, especially the area near West Point. At the age of 10, Mary and her family moved to the borough of Queens, where she attended Flushing High School. After taking a business course, and working as a salesgirl at Lord and Taylor, she began working as a clerk for Blue Cross.

She was a prize-winning dancer and a devotee of the big bands, especially Artie Shaw. She joined a group of young women who provided partners for dances at West Point.



In 1944, she met John J. McCue, then a lieutenant in the Marine Corps stationed on the carrier Bon Homme Richard, which was being completed at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. They married in 1946 and she moved to Los Angeles, where he was finishing law school. She again worked for Blue Cross until the birth of her first child, Andrew, in 1948. In the early 1950s, the family moved to Whittier. She lost a daughter at birth soon after, but had another son, David, in 1955. In late 1959, the family moved to La Habra Heights and her third child, Margaret, was born in 1962.



With her children out of the house, Mary returned to work at Board Ford and Bonanza Nut & Bolt, where she was employed for over a decade.



Mary was a lifelong, eclectic reader and continued to pursue a college education for a number of years, taking courses at East Los Angeles Junior College and Rio Hondo Junior College. She was especially interested in her Irish-American heritage and the history of New York City, where she developed a large collection of books. This tied in with genealogical research about her family.



She enjoyed sewing and acted in stage productions both for the Whittier Community Theater and at St. Brunos Church, where her family became members in 1959. She served as Home & School chairman for St. Brunos School. She became very involved in understanding her Catholic faith, organizing and leading courses in Bible studies and teaching in the RCIA program for adults interested in converting to Catholicism. She was also involved in social action such as the United Farmworkers grape boycott and protests against the war in Vietnam.



She was devoted to her children, her three grandchildren and one great grandson. She is survived by Andrew, David, Margaret, Andrews wife Mary Kenney, Margarets husband Gino DAnna, Andrews children Bernadette and Seanacchie, Davids son Patrick, and Patricks son Liam.



There will be a rosary at 7pm Monday evening February 4 at St. Brunos Church, 15740 Citrustree Rd., followed by a funeral mass 9:30 am the next day at St. Brunos. The mass will be followed by a reception at the family home and a burial service at Queen of Heaven Cemetery, 2161 So. Fullerton Rd. in Rowland Heights, at 2 p.m.



Her quiet presence will be deeply missed, especially by her children. In lieu of flowers, donations to Habitat for Humanity would be greatly appreciated.