Obituary of Mary Sheridan

Mary Frances (Molloy) Sheridan, a revered member of Church of the Good Shepherd parish in the Inwood section of Manhattan, returned peacefully to God’s Hands the evening of December 3, 2020. Born on October 31, 1926, to Daniel and Mary (Hayes) Molloy in Woodford Parish, Galway, Ireland, where she grew up in a farm family with three sisters (Bridie, Ellen, Kathleen) and three brothers (John, Dan and Michael). In 1947 Mary immigrated to the United States, where she met Thomas Patrick Sheridan, the two of whom were happily married from 1953 until his death in 1988. They had three boys, John (Marshfield, MA), Thomas (Middletown, NY), and Robert (deceased). John and Tom provided Mary with six loving grandchildren (three boys each) as well as—so far—five great grandchildren. Mary’s first job when she came to the States was as a phone operator at Montefiore Hospital, where a kindly supervisor took her under her wing and tried to help Mary lose her brogue—with no noticeable success. She stayed home to raise the boys until they were both attending Immaculate Conception grade school, at which point she began the volunteer work that would energize and inspire her and the people around her for the rest of her life. She started out teaching math to special education children at Immaculate Conception until she moved to Inwood in 1966—and to Good Shepherd, at that time run by the Paulists—where her volunteer work blossomed into a genuine vocation. With Fr. Trainor and Fr. Pinkston, two of the priests on staff, she helped launch ISPY, a summer day camp for local low-income grade school boys and girls; she joined (and eventually ran) the Rosary Society, organized Irish Ceili dances, and worked at the flea market to raise money for the parish. But she was just warming up... In 1968, Mary joined Pete Naughton and others to start the Irish Minor Football Club, for which, among other things, she organized fundraising dances and chartered trips for these young players to compete against Irish teams. This was an abiding passion for many years, years that she always looked back upon with great fondness. All of this was propelled by a great love of Good Shepherd and a greater love of God. She was a eucharistic minister for nearly 30 years, was one of the first laypeople to serve as a lector, and was an example of humble (if occasionally stubborn) service to everyone in the parish. It was also tireless service. Up to the beginning of 2020 Mary was still actively involved in both sidewalk sales to support the parish and the food pantry to help people in the neighborhood. Even in her “retirement”, she was still crocheting upward of 15 Irish hats a week to be sold at various parish venues. In support of these efforts, she recruited a dedicated group of volunteers and friends, all of whom are the better for having known her and will cherish the quiet but joyful difference she made in their lives. In lieu of flowers, donations should be sent to Church of the Good Shepherd: See below for service information. Reposing at Riverdale Funeral Home, Inc. 5044 Broadway, NY on Friday 4-7pm. Funeral service to take place at Church of the Good Shepherd 4967 Broadway on Saturday 9:30am. Interment to follow at St Raymond’s Cemetery, 2600 Lafayette Avenue, the Bronx. Due to Covid-19 restrictions, please be aware of your safety and others in paying your respects. Unfortunately, we will not be able to host a repast after the interment but hope for a future celebration when it will be safe. The visitation will appear virtually on Zoom on Friday 3-4pm EST as well as the funeral mass on Sat 9:30-10:30am EST Before joining a Zoom meeting, you must download the Zoom App or go to www.zoom.com. When joining a zoom, enter the meeting ID number: 2129424000 You will then be ask to enter the password: 2129424000 Select if you would like to connect to audio and/or video. You can also use this link to attend the zoom meeting To plant Memorial Trees in memory of Mary Sheridan, please click here to visit our Sympathy Store.