Mary F. Riordan 1943 ∼ 2019
Mary F. Riordan, loving wife, mother and grandmother, passed away on Tuesday, August 13, 2019 at her home in Cotuit, MA. She was 75.
Mary was preceded in death by her husband, John T. Riordan. She is survived by her six children, Sheila Nugent, Patrick Riordan, Aidan Riordan, Meghan Jarvis, Brendan Riordan and Caitlin Riordan; by thirteen grandchildren; and by her brother, Martin Fleming.
Mary was born and raised in New Jersey and graduated from Saint Dominic Academy in Jersey City. Raised a devout Catholic, Mary joined the Maryknoll Sisters convent in Ossining, NY, after high school where she spent two years. Mary worked for McGraw-Hill book company in New York City before moving to Saint Louis, MO, to work for the War on Poverty. Staying in St. Louis, Mary returned to work at McGraw-Hill where she met a bright, young editor, John T. Riordan. John and Mary married in 1966 and moved back East first to Skillman, NJ, and eventually to their beloved nineteenth century farmhouse in Georgetown, MA, where they lived and raised their family for 30 years. John and Mary spent their first summer in Cotuit in 1974, eventually making it their year round home and community in 1992.
Mary was the ultimate mother, raising not only her own six children, but offering support and an open door to many of her children’s friends. She was a self-taught general contractor, who stripped her own floors, caned her own chairs and upholstered her own furniture. She was an expert needle pointer, gifting every family member with an exquisite, unique Christmas stocking and birth announcement sampler.
Mary’s gardens were her great love, and gave joy to all those that had the pleasure to visit her. She was particularly fond of the flower scilla, and painted the door of their Georgetown home the exact blue shade of the flower so that passers by might stop and enjoy the beauty.
Mary read every non-fiction book in the Cotuit Library.
In recent years her greatest love was her work and her team at the Saint Vincent de Paul Society thrift store affiliated with Christ the King Parish. Mary found incredible joy, meaning, friendship and comfort in her time with the Thursday crew.
A visitation will be held at Christ the King Church, 3 Job’s Fishing Rd, Mashpee, MA on Friday August 23, 2019 from 10AM to 11AM. A funeral mass will follow in the Church at 11:00AM. Burial will be private. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to Christ the King Parish, P.O. Box 1800, Mashpee, MA 02649, the Cotuit Public Library, 871 Main St, Cotuit, MA 02635, or the Hermits of St. Mary of Carmel, 33005 Stinson Ridge Rd, Houston, MN 55943. Contact information for members of the Riordan Family is available through Chapman, Cole & Gleason Funeral Homes, Mashpee, MA.
