Mary J. ‘Huff’ Kane, retired nurse

Mary J. “Huff” Kane, a retired registered nurse who took great pride in her Irish heritage, died Sunday in her sleep at Stella Maris Hospice in Timonium. She was 87.

Mary Jane McCarthy was born in Baltimore and raised in the 2700 block of W. Baltimore St. She was the daughter of a musician, Jeremiah McCarthy, who owned Henderson’s Syncopators, and Agnes McCarthy, a City Hall telephone operator.

Mrs. Kane, who was known as “Huff,” attended St. Benedict’s Elementary School and graduated from Seton High School in 1948. She obtained a nursing degree in 1951 from the Mercy Hospital School of Nursing.

She married Edward Michael Kane in 1954. In 1974, the couple established Harbor Boating Inc. in the Inner Harbor. They later divorced.

Her nursing career spanned 30 years and included positions at Mercy Hospital and later at Mercy Villa Convent. She retired in 1981.

Ms. Kane was known for her smile and enjoyed “arts and crafts, good food, music and all things Irish,” said a daughter, Mary Anne Kane-Breschi of Roland Park.

She was a longtime member of the Maryland Ladies of the Ancient Order of Hibernians and considered it a highlight of her life when she traveled to Ireland with her sister and kissed the Blarney Stone.

A longtime resident of Govans and later of Cockeysville, Mrs. Kane enjoyed crocheting smileyfaced potholders — which she sold at the Govans neighborhood booth at the old Baltimore City Fair.

“She often said of something she loved, ‘If God made anything better, he kept it for himself,’ ’’ said Ms. Kane-Breschi.

She was a former communicant of St. Mary of the Assumption Roman Catholic Church, 5502 York Road, Govans, where a Mass of Christian burial will be offered at 10:30 a.m. Friday.

In addition to her daughter, she is survived by a son, Terrence Kane of Baltimore; another daughter, Barbara Daily of Hunt Valley; six grandchildren; and a great-grandson. A son, Thomas Kane, died in 1978; and another son, Michael Kane, died in 1980.