Mary P. Ahearn

Mary Patricia (Croci) Ahearn on Thursday, February 16, 2012, Mary passed away in Homestead, Florida at the age of 82. Beloved wife of Joseph Michael Ahearn, Sr. for 57 years, loving mother of Joseph Michael Ahearn, Jr., Joan Jimenez and Elizabeth Ahearn, adoring Nana of Lauren Ahearn, Joseph (JT) Michael Ahearn, III, Olivia Ahearn, Michael Jimenez, Christina Jimenez and Sophia Jimenez, and dear sister of Anna Bruneau. Mary was also predeceased in death by her sister Ida Croci. A long time resident of Woodcliff Lake, Mary was born on September 16, 1929 in Washington, DC to the late Amelia and Germano Croci who had emigrated from Parma, Italy. In Washington, DC, she attended St. Mary’s Parochial School, and after relocating to Riverdale, NY, she attended St. Simon Stock High School. She returned to Washington, DC, graduated from The Washington School for Secretaries, and worked for several agencies. She met Joe at the USMC Officers Club in Quantico, VA, and married after a year and a half courtship. They lived at the Marine Corps Base at Camp Pendleton, California until Joe completed his military service. They settled in Bronxville, NY, relocated to Yonkers, and in 1966, Mary and her family moved to Woodcliff Lake where she lived until recently. Mary devoted most of her life to her family, prayer, and serving the poorest of the poor. In the 1980s she was professed as a member of the Lay Order of Carmelites, and also became a Mother Teresa Lay Missionary of Charity. After her initial vows, serving six years in the Newark soup kitchen, and driving the sisters into areas such as Harlem and Bedford-Stuyvesant, she became eligible for one of the highlights of her life: she took her permanent vows as a Lay Missionary of Charity in Rome, Italy where Mother Teresa laid hands upon her.

Mary spent the remainder of her life dedicated to family, faith, and service. Funeral from the Becker Funeral Home on Monday February 27th at 8:30am with a Mass of Christian Burial at 9:30am at Our Lady Mother of the Church, Woodcliff Lake, NJ. Interment to follow in Gate of Heaven Cemetery, Hawthorne, NY. Family and friends will be received Sunday, February 26th, 4-6pm at the funeral home.