"I have so very many memories of Mary Cronin. And to my family she was always Mary Cronin, as if Cronin was her middle name or MaryCronin some exotic Irish version of MaryAnn or MaryJo or MaryBeth. She was my Grandma Myrt's best friend so she was a fixture at our family gatherings - Easters, Christmases, weddings, baptisms, birthdays. Mary Cronin had a way of hugging you that said, "Hey, you're home kiddo. You're family. You're loved." She would squeeze just hard enough and hold on just long enough. Plus she smelled really good. I can picture the tiny, precise, sharp handwriting in the Christmas cards that continued to arrive decades after I moved out of my family home and into my own. My favorite memory of Mary was the weekend I spent with her and Grandma and Maggie Cronin watching a Lourdes basketball game, learning to play poker (with an ante of M&Ms and peanuts), and having a sleepover in Grandma's Lake City trailer. I think was about 10 years old. While Mary was on the earth, I still felt like my Grandma was here too. Now that they're together again, I'm sure there's a grand reunion happening. And if there's a good fishing hole in Heaven, I know where the two of them will be hanging out."
In loving memory of
Mary Louise Cronin
December 16, 1923 - June 10, 2016
The Funeral Mass for Mary Louise Cronin will be Sunday, June 19th, 2016 at 4:00 p.m. at Resurrection Catholic Church in Rochester, with her nephew, the Rev. Michael Cronin officiating.Visitation will be an hour before the service at the church.Burial will be in Calvary Cemetery.
Miss Cronin, 92, a lifelong Rochester resident and longtime Mayo Clinic employee died June 10th, 2016, at River Bend in Rochester.
Mary Louise Cronin was born December 16, 1923 in Rochester, to John E. and Grace (McGovern) Cronin.She attended Rochester High School and Rochester Junior College.She joined Mayo Clinic-Rochester in 1943 as a refraction technician. She completed courses in orthoptics at the Rochester Orthoptic Center in Rochester, New York and returned to Mayo Clinic-Rochester where she served as a certified orthoptist until her retirement in 1985.While working in the Department of Ophthalmology (West 7), she also supervised the other eye technicians. She also participated in the training of residents and fellows. Upon her retirement in 1985, Dr. Theodore Martens wrote "I hope in your retirement you will take with you not only the fond memories of patients, fellows, and staff, but the satisfaction of knowing that your work aided so many thousands of patients with motility problems."
She enjoyed nature and animals, sports, fishing, playing bingo, and most of all spending time with family and friends and her many nieces and nephews.She was a woman of deep Catholic Christian faith.
She was preceded in death by her parents, brothers John, Robert, and Paul, and sister Geraldine.She is survived by her nieces Maureen (Mark) Earp of Apple Valley; Mary Jo Paulson of Wayzata; Marcie (Joe) Becker of Rochester; Monica Copeland of Lakeville; Maggie (Tim) McWilliams of Prior Lake; Barbara Cronin (Herman Hernandez) of Carmel Valley, California,nephews Mark Cronin of Savage, Rev. Michael Cronin of Janesville, Mike Cronin of Fort Meyers, FL, Steve (Denise) Cronin of Bloomington; Scott Cronin of Woodstock, New York; and Jason (Varvara) Cronin of Santa Cruz, CA; and sister-in-law Anne Cronin (Don) Bock of Rochester.
The family wishes to extend their thanks to her primary care physician Dr. Henry Schultz at the Mayo Clinic, the Mayo Clinic Hospice program, the staff who assisted her during her last hospitalization at St. Mary's Hospital and the dedicated and caring staff at River Bend Assisted Living and Memory Care in Rochester. In lieu of flowers, memorials are suggested to the Poverello Fund at the Mayo Clinic or a charity of the donors choice.
Ranfranz and Vine Funeral Homes 5421 Royal Place NW Rochester, MN 55901 www.ranfranzandvinefh.com
Tributes
"I am so sad to hear Mary has passed. She was a wonderful friend. We spent many joyful times together... dinners, lunches, happy hours....I will miss her !! She was a truly beautiful soul and God will have a special place prepared for her."