Mary Ellen Carlin

Mary Ellen Carlin, 74, passed away on Tuesday, July 13th, 2021. Mary Ellen is survived by her husband of 44 years, Robert; sons Clifton with wife Anya and grandson, Jake; also David with wife Molly and grandson William. She is also survived by her sisters Valerie Hillesheim and Linda Masten. Mary Ellen was preceded in death by her parents, Arthur and Ethel Mullaly and her brother Larry.

Mary Ellen was born on March 14th, 1947, to Arthur and Ethel Mullaly in Neptune — a town in New

Jersey and not the planet many thought she was from. She attended San Jose State University,

graduating with a degree in Chemical Engineering in 1990 which she got because her father told her

it was so hard that she’d never be able to do it. This was her third attempt at getting her degree

and was not thwarted by any additional children who had derailed her first two attempts. In fact, her

time at SJSU partially overlapped with Cliff and she was motivated to keep going by the chance to

run into her son on campus.

She met her husband Bob while working at El Camino Hospital in Mountain View where she was an X-ray technician and he was a radiologist. They became close when all the other technicians who she was close with were too afraid to deal with Bob, but Mary Ellen was determined to break through his tough exterior. Together, they bought a house in Los Altos where they lived for over twenty years, raised Cliff and David, and eventually she settled in Pacific Grove with Bob to be near her sisters, friends, the

ocean, and the golf courses.

Mary Ellen was loved by a number of communities. She spent roughly three decades in aviation, was a regular with the Pacific Grove Women’s Golf Club and at Monterey Peninsula Country Club golf courses, she was part of a cooking club, bridge playing group, and had a fantastic group of friends to travel with.

Mary Ellen loved flying and loved to share the freedom it brought her with others. She was a flight instructor who taught dozens of students at Palo Alto, Reid-Hillview, San Martin, and Monterey airports. Flying was such a part of her that she would often joke in her car that “we should just pull up and go over these jokers” while stuck in traffic.

She also loved to not just travel, but to explore. She flew her plane all over the United States with Bob — including to Alaska and along the East Coast to visit some of the places they each grew up. She also flew to the Caribbean and all the way through Central America down to Colombia on one occasion.

Even when she was taking a vacation from her flying, she was exploring and finding adventure across 6 continents. She went skydiving, scuba diving, race car driving, hiking and biking like few others and appreciated every moment. But when she needed to find some peace she could be found walking and talking with her sisters, Linda and Valerie.

The only things that could slow her down was a chance to spend time with children or animals. She often

volunteered to help catch stray cats (which sometimes became her own), and she even nursed a baby blue jay back to health once. She would jump at the chance to visit her grandkids and children of her friends and family. But if you turned your back on her for a second she was teaching the kids words they shouldn’t know and games they shouldn’t play.

Her flight on July 13th ended tragically but she will be missed and remembered for always trying to be of service to others.

A private funeral was held for her family, while a wider celebration of Mary Ellen’s life will be arranged later in the year.

In lieu of flowers, Mary Ellen would have appreciated any donation to your local animal shelter. One of her family’s favorites was Peace of Mind Dog Rescue https://peaceofminddogrescue.org/ and Happy Tails Pet Sanctuary HappyTails.org