Mary King Callaghan Briggs

Mary was born in 1930 in Paisley Scotland, one of a large Catholic family. She immigrated to the United States in 1949 and lived in an apartment in Harlem with her sister. She qualified as a bookkeeper and got a job at the Waldorf Astoria. In the early fifties she met a dashing British Naval Officer and they were married in England in 1953. Ron got a broadcast engineering job and they moved around the country.

In 1969 Ron was appointed Head of TV and Radio in Libya and subsequently a similar position in 1973 in Qatar. Mary took to the life of an expatriate as if made for it. Parties, luncheons and hob nobbing with the diplomats and government officials suited her down to the ground.

They decided to return to the US in 1977 living in New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and for a few years in Omaha, Nebraska. In 1988 they retired to “paradise” here in Naples.

Sadly, Mary was widowed in 1991 but continued to enjoy her life in SW Florida: bowling, playing poker, and the occasional glass of wine. She was a proper people person who was genuinely interested in finding out about others. She was frank and to the point- something few people are today- and spoke her mind.

She leaves a son who still can’t believe she is gone, a much loved daughter in law and a much hoped for granddaughter, Eleanor.

She will be sorely missed and peoples’ lives will be less interesting without her.

Memorial Mass will be held March 20, 2015 at 1:30 PM at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church, 625 111th Ave N, Naples, FL 34108. Arrangements entrusted to Hodges Funeral Home at Naples Memorial Gardens.

Family flowers only- any donations should be directed to AVOW Hospice.