Mary Elizabeth McGuire's Obituary
Mary Elizabeth McGuire of Gambrills, MD passed away on January 12, 2019 surrounded by her family. She was 79 years old.
Mary is survived by her daughters Charisse Marie Reed and Dawn Renee Fowler of Crofton, MD, and her stepchildren Ann Kelly Kirwan of Rock Hall, MD, Cecilia Marie Therres of Hampstead, MD, and Samuel Thomas Shipley, III of Hanover, PA,; and her grandchildren, Branson Kenneth Fowler, Jr., Austin Reed Fowler, Dalton James Fowler, Adam Louis Therres, Alyson Regina Hilton, and Samuel Thomas Shipley, IV, and numerous great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband Samuel Thomas Shipley, Jr as well as her first husband, Harvey Leon Reed.
Mary was born on March 3, 1939 in Baltimore, MD to Lafayette and Sarah McGuire. Mary graduated from Sparrows Point High School in 1957. She married her high school sweetheart, Harvey Reed, the same year and moved to Chicago, IL. In 1959, Mary and Harvey returned to Maryland and settled in Glen Burnie to raise their two daughters. Mary spent over 15 years working at Montgomery Wards in Glen Burnie as a cashier and gift wrapper. In 1983, after her divorce, Mary moved to Greenbelt, MD and began working at Goddard Space Flight Center from where she retired in 2001.
In 1991, Mary married Tom Shipley and they built a home on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Mary and Tom moved to Gambrills in 2008. Both retired, Mary and Tom also spent time at Tom’s cabin in the mountains of Lost River, West Virginia. Mary loved her family above all else. She never tired of helping her daughters with even the most mundane tasks and she found joy in being a stepmother to Tom’s children. Mary loved to cook and was always coming up with creative reasons to invite family and friends to her house to share a meal. Mary was a friend to many and loved the life she lived.
Mary passed away peacefully at Assisted Living Well in Millersville, MD after a long illness. She will be remembered as a loving mother and grandmother, a fun woman who loved to entertain, and a giver of advice . . . she had an opinion about everything and always felt obligated to share.
A memorial service is scheduled for Friday, January 18th, 2019 at Lasting Tributes, 814 Bestgate Rd, Annapolis MD. The family will accept visitors from 10:30am-11:30am. The service will begin at 11:30am with a reception immediately following at the home of her daughters at 1505 Augusta Way, Crofton, MD 21114. All are welcome to attend and celebrate Mary’s life.
It is the family’s wish that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to Hospice of the Chesapeake.
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