Bridie Cremin

May 11, 1928 - January 4, 2019

Bridie Cremin passed away peacefully into the Lord’s hands on January 4, 2019. She was 90 years old. Bridie was born May 11, 1928 to Patrick and Bridget O’Donnell in Keelogues, County Mayo, Ireland. While a teenager, she moved to Manchester, England where she worked in a textile factory but would return to Ireland in 1948 and begin her trans-Atlantic migration, sailing out of Cobh, to the destination of so many of the post-WWII Irish emigres: New York City. Upon her arrival, Bridie settled in Brooklyn and began waitressing at the Irish-staffed Schrafft’s Restaurant in Midtown Manhattan where she made lifelong friends.

In 1950, while at a dance in Brooklyn, she met a young carpenter from County Cork, Patrick Cremin. A courtship began and they were married on June 6, 1953 at St. Sabina’s Church in Chicago’s Southside. She became a homemaker and mother and in 1963 the family would move from Chicago to San Francisco, the city she grew to love and call home.

While raising her three children, Bridie also waitressed at several coffee shops in The City, most notably at the European Bakery on Taraval Street where she greeted all customers with her radiant smile and cheerful disposition.

From 1976 until Pat’s passing in 2003, she and Pat would take annual extended vacations to Ireland, visiting family and friends in Cork and Mayo.

Bridie’s faith and her family were of the utmost importance. Although she had a limited formal education, she made it a priority for her children to have the best educational opportunities. She made everyone, friend or stranger, feel special and was always there for every milestone and event, big or small. She enjoyed the moment, content with the day God set before her. Bridie enjoyed life and lived it well and is now at peace in the Lord’s hands united with her loving husband, Pat.

She was the devoted wife of Pat for 50 years when he passed. She is the loving mother of Daniel, M.D. (Ellen), Kathleen Bergerson (Bill), and Patrick; proud grandmother of Margaret, Brigid, Amanda, Patrick, Alyssa, Maryclare and Billy.

She is the dear sister of Jimmy (Maureen) of Claremorris, County Mayo, and the late Tom, John, Ann (the late Frank) Kerins, Pat, Mike, Teresa (the late Mick) Delaney, Luke (the late Ann), and Eileen (the late Mickey) Nally; fond aunt of many. A memorial Mass will be celebrated on Saturday, January 19, 2019 at 10:30 a.m. at Holy Name of Jesus Church, 39th Ave. & Lawton, San Francisco with a reception immediately following at the Flanagan Center.

Memorials in Bridie’s name may be made to the Irish Immigration Pastoral Center, 5340 Geary Blvd., #206, SF, CA 94121 (415) 752-6006, info@sfiipc.org; or to Holy Name School, 1560 40th Ave., SF, CA 94122 (415) 731-4077.