Mary Margaret Reilly

Our sweet, funny, and beloved mom, Mary M. Reilly, passed away at home on June 12, 2023 at the
age of 98. She will be missed terribly but her family is grateful for her long and healthy life. She loved
her family and church and was devoted to the Virgin Mary. She prayed the rosary twice a day in recent
years. She was a daily communicant and watched the Mass every day at noon on EWTN when she
could no longer get to church every day.
Mary was born in Hazleton, PA on Valentine’s Day in 1925. The family lived in Scranton at the time
but her mother, Sara Mundie (Dever), had gone to see her sister Mary Dailey (Dever) in Hazleton where
she went into labor. She lived on Monroe Avenue in Scranton where she attended the Dundell School
until she was 8 years old. In 1933, her father, James J. Mundie Sr., got a new job selling commercial
refrigeration equipment in New York City. So they moved to New York where her older brother, Jimmy,
promised her a ride in something called a ‘dumb waiter.’ They moved into an apartment building on
Haven Avenue in Washington Heights in the shadow of the George Washington Bridge. She attended
P.S. 173 for grade school, P.S 115 for junior high school, and George Washington High School where she
graduated in 1942. After high school, she attended the Ballard Business School in the YWCA Building at
610 Lexington Avenue for a six-month course in typing and stenography. Upon graduating, her first job
was at the Fifth Avenue Bank at 44 th Street. She worked there for two years before moving on to work
for Eastern Airlines at 10 Rockefeller Plaza right next to ’30 Rock.’ At the time, the World War I flying
ace Eddie Rickenbacker was the president of Eastern and she used to see him in the lobby. She worked
at Eastern until 1951 when she moved with her parents to Detroit, MI to be closer to her brother and his
young family. She was hired by the Ford Motor Co. But her parents weren’t happy in Detroit so they
moved back to New York City to an apartment on Caryl Avenue in Yonkers. Luckily she was able to
transfer to another Ford job in their International Division on Park Avenue. Sadly, soon after they
returned to New York, her father passed away in his car on Wadsworth Avenue in Washington Heights.
He was waked on Broadway for one night and then again at John Boyle’s funeral home in Hazleton. He
was buried in McAdoo, PA.
Mary and her mother stayed in Yonkers another year or so where her mother worked for Readers
Digest opening mail in Pleasantville. Her Aunt Mary Dailey even came down and worked with her mom
for a while at Readers Digest but they both hated it. So, despite their unsuccessful earlier move to
Detroit, they decided to give Detroit another go to be close to Jimmy and June and their kids who were
still there. Again, Ford took care of her – transferring her to a job in their sleek new American Road
Building in Detroit. They had a nice apartment on 8 Mile and Shaffer not far from her brother but once
again they weren’t very happy in Detroit.
So in February 1957 they once again returned to New York. This time to another apartment on Haven
Avenue but not in their original building as it had been knocked down to add another deck to the
George Washington Bridge. And again (!) Ford took care of her- transferring her to the Harborside
Terminal Building in Jersey City.
On July 4th of 1957, she and her mom made a fateful trip to Washington D.C. to visit her Aunt
Catherine and Uncle Joe McGeady. Her cousin, Bill McGeady, set her up on a blind date with his best
friend Tom ‘Larry’ Reilly. They went with Bill and Ruth McGeady and Catherine and Frank Pendleton to
the Andrews Officer’s Club. It must have went well because they returned for another visit on Labor
Day. Mary and Larry went out to the movies and again to the Officer’s Club and “the rest is history.”
They were engaged on Valentines Day in 1958 in St. Patricks Church in D.C.

In August 1958, Mary and her mom moved down from New York to D.C. and got an apartment on 7 th
Street S.E. in preparation for the wedding in October. And yet again – Ford transferred her to their
regional office in D.C. in the Old Esso Building (where the Department of Labor is now.) They were
married October 4 th at Holy Family Catholic Church in Hillcrest Heights, MD by Father Farina (yes – he
was related to the oatmeal company).
She finally left Ford in 1959 to start a family eventually having three children – Christine, Kevin, and
Jimmy. In 1961, they bought a house in ‘Andrews Estates’ on Elmendorf Drive in the Skyline
community. In 1964, Mary announced to Larry that they were moving – around the corner. She had
fallen in love with the new model home for the houses being built on Ladd Road. She lived in this house
for the next 59 years.
Her life was completely focused on her family and church until her mother, who still lived with her,
passed away in 1973. It was then that she returned to the workforce taking a part-time job just up the
road at the U.S. Census Bureau in Suitland, MD. She enjoyed her work there and her part-time job
eventually became a full-time job in the Census Public Information Office where she worked until she
retired in 1989. She earned a Bronze Medal Award from the Department of Commerce for superior
federal service.
Mary and Larry were founding members of St. Philip the Apostle Church in Camp Springs, MD. She
was a parishioner there for more than 60 years. She was a member of the Sodality and the choir for
many years.
In her ‘retirement’ she worked at Prince George’s Hospice and for a short time at the National
Association of Manufacturers in Greenbelt, MD. She was also the recording secretary for the Skyline
Citizens Association.
Mary had many good friends and she was a good friend to many. She seemed to know who needed
a friend and looked out for them – driving them to the grocery store, church, and doctor’s
appointments. She enjoyed special friendships with Anne Woods and Ruth Stirling.
Mary is survived by her daughter Christine (Tim) and sons Kevin (Kelllie) and Jim, granddaughter
Tanna (Kevin), great-grandson Warren, niece Diane Mundie and nephew Craig Mundie, and a host of
cousins that were dear to her. She was preceded in death by her husband of 53 years Larry, her dear
brother Jimmy Mundie and his wife June, her nephew Kevin Mundie, and her niece Marie Mundie. As
long as it is, this obituary doesn’t capture how funny she was, the withering looks she could give, the
great mother she was, how sweet she was or how loved she was.