Mary Jane “Peggy” Casey
Mary Jane “Peggy” Casey passed away at her home in Berkeley on March 13th. Peggy was born in San Francisco in 1925. She Married Paul Francis Casey in 1941 (RIP 2002) Together they moved to Berkeley and bought the family house in 1949.
Peggy loved to tell stories about growing up during Prohibition in San Francisco with her renegade Father and his bootlegging business, and how they moved from house to house, always picking one with an easy escape route including a house with an underground tunnel out to the beach. She certainly inherited her Father’s independent and entrepreneurial spirit as well as his love of cooking. With three small children and more to come she opened The Spot Café on Broadway in Oakland in 1956. From there she went on to establish “Peggy’s Grill” on E. 14th st . With the birth of her sixth child Peggy decided she needed to be homebased so she turned her home into a boarding house for UC students. Her family relished sitting around the covered pool table with bench seating and enjoying the varied meal time company and elaborate breakfasts and dinners with endless refills.
With the death of her father in 1966 Peggy took over his Bill’s Model Shoe Shop business in Berkeley’s Elmwood district and transformed it into “The Trading Post and Gem Gallery.” Here she thrived as a College Avenue Icon, quickly becoming president of the Elmwood Merchants Association, and later president of the Zonita women’s service organization, as well as President of the Berkeley Women’s Chamber of Commerce. She was also a Captain in the Salvation Army and a regular volunteer at Newman Hall.
Peggy will be best remembered for her generosity of spirit. She would regularly donate to multiple causes, foundations, political candidates (both sides at the same time), and numerous individual artists. Her monthly family dinners were legendary and always open to friends, acquaintances, and mystery guests. A party of 15 would regularly turned into a party for thirty. No one was ever turned away. Peggy was able to find something redeeming in everyone she met. She loved the uniqueness and diversity of humans and was never put off by the unknown or strange. To enter her house was to enter her life.
To her family, Mary Jane Casey was the center. Her charisma, kindness, and fiery temper were at the core of the Casey family. She was the Sun, her family the planets. She is survived by six loving Children, twelve grandchildren, to many great grandchildren to count, numerous great-great grandchildren, and a myriad of in-laws and outlaws. All of whom claimed her as their guide and protector. We love you. Friends and family are invited to attend a funeral mass at Newman Hall, 2700 Dwight Way, Berkeley, on March 31 at 1:30pm followed by a Celebration of Mary Jane Casey’s life from 2:30pm to 3:pm.