Mary Virginia McInerney
June 10, 1926 - November 30, 2017
Mary Virginia McEnhill McInerney was born in San Francisco to John (Jack) Edward McEnhill and Elizabeth (Lee) Moran. She was baptized at St. Agnes Church in San Francisco; the same church where her parents were married. She made her First Holy Communion at St. Peters Church in the Mission. Mary Virginia was the oldest of six children; John, Elizabeth, Donal, Gerald and Judith. Mary and her five siblings moved to Oakland and attended school at Our Lady of Lourdes grammar school. She graduated from Holy Names High School and entered the University of California, Berkeley as a history major.
Mary’s family had a cabin on Fitch Mountain in Healdsburg and one summer she met her future husband, William H. McInerney, while he was visiting her cousins, Tom and Marshall Moran. Mary and Bill married in 1949 at Our Lady of Lourdes while Bill was in his last year of law school at UC Berkeley Boalt Hall. They remained happily married for more than 64 years until Bill’s death in 2013.
When Mary’s first son was born, the family moved briefly to Lafayette. Soon after their daughter was born, the family moved to Oakland where all four of their children (William, Bridget, Timothy and Michael) attended St. Theresa School. Mary enjoyed being a wife, mother and volunteer. Her volunteer activities included being the class room mother for children’s classes, President of the St. Theresa Mothers’ Club, Auction Chair for St. Theresa School, President of the St. Ignatius Mothers’ Club, a volunteer at Providence Hospital, President of the San Miguel Board of Providence Hospital and President of the Piedmont Area Republican Women. Mary was always involved in her children’s school activities and sports at Bellarmine College Preparatory, Santa Catalina School and St. Ignatius College Preparatory School. Mary was equally involved with her grandchildren’s school and sports; she was a regular at St. Theresa School picking up her grandchildren for many years.
Mary and Bill were both very involved with Mercy Retirement and Care Center and the Knights of Malta. For decades, Mary and Bill volunteered every month at Mercy and Mary continued to volunteer even after Bill’s death. Mary became a Dame of Malta in 1989. In 1988 Mary and Bill at- tended the first of 23 annual pilgrimages to Lourdes, France. Mary made her final and 24th pilgrimage with her daughter in 2014.
Mary had many different interests; but her two lifelong passions were the opera and wildflower hikes with her cousin, Ginny Rarig. She had season tickets to the San Francisco Opera for more than 40 years. Mary and Bill spent many happy summers with their families in Aptos and at their cabin in Plumas.
In 2009, Mary and Bill celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary in Mendocino with their family. Mary missed her wonderful husband Bill every day since his death; but she was fortunate to live close to her four children and fifteen grandchildren who loved her and will miss her very much. Mary is survived by her two sisters, Elizabeth Kozel and Judith Jasko, her brother, Gerald McEnhill, and is predeceased by her two brothers, Donal McEnhill and Rev. John McEnhill. Mary is also survived by her four children, William (Karen), Bridget (L. Randolph Harris), Timothy (Veronica) and Michael (Robyn Kerrisk) and fifteen grandchildren, Colleen, Mary, and Tessie McInerney; Cornelius, Elizabeth, Liam and Dermot Harris; Seamus, Brendan, Declan, Maura, Tadhg, and Liam McInerney; and Riley and Keara McInerney. Mary said the rosary almost every day and wishes that all will honor the Blessed Mother. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to St. Thomas Aquinas College, 10000 Ojai Road, Santa Paula, CA 93060 Attn: P. O’Reilly or the Order of Malta of Northern California –Oakland Clinic Memorial Gifts, 2121 Harrison Street, Ste 110, Oakland, CA 94612.
The Rosary will be held on Thursday December 7 at St. Theresa Church, Oakland at 7:00pm and a mass of Christian Burial will be held on Friday December 8 at St. Theresa Church at 11AM. Private internment at the Cathedral of Christ the Light.