Eileen McCoy died peacefully surrounded by family in her son's home in Antioch, on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2015. She was 91 years old.
Eileen was born March 9, 1923, to Irish immigrants Delia and John Cronin of Keyport, NJ. She grew up with Herbert, Eugene, Patricia and Mavourneen. John and Kathleen died in childhood.
Eileen graduated from Keyport High School in 1941. At 18, she worked in a Manhattan office for a year. She often referred to this as the most care-free time of her life. She remembered roller skating in Central Park and seeing Frank Sinatra perform at Radio City Music Hall.
She met her husband, Owen, a sailor in the U.S. Navy, while she was studying nursing at St. Peter's Hospital in New Brunswick, NJ. Her tuition was paid by the U.S. government on condition she serve if needed. The war ended and the young couple wed in a side chapel at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City on August 14, 1948.
They bought their first home in Denver, where three children: Kevin, Brian and Kathleen were born. Owen was recalled to active duty during the Korean Conflict and the family eventually lived in California, Nebraska, Guam and San Diego. Eileen worked as a civilian RN wherever Owen was stationed, including in Lincoln, Neb., the civilian hospital in Agana, Guam, and the Naval Hospital at Balboa Park in San Diego.
When the family was on Guam, Owen and Eileen visited Hong Kong, the Philippines, Japan and Australia. After their retirement, Owen and Eileen traveled in Europe and Ireland, and toured the Southwest and Mexico in a motorhome as members of the Good Sam RV Club. They volunteered as campground hosts and worked concessions in the Grand Canyon. In an emergency one night, retired nurse Eileen helped at the unexpected birth of a park worker's baby.
When home in San Diego, they swam most mornings at the YMCA and enjoyed a warm circle of friends. Eileen loved to walk, doing so all her life on her work lunch breaks. She was active in Walkabout San Diego and various walking clubs into her later years.
After Owen's death in 2004, Eileen moved to northern California to live near son Brian. She still traveled, including on an Elderhostel to Ireland, to Israel and later China with her sister and brother-in-law, Pat and John, and to Africa with son Kevin and family. Eileen joined Brian and Vicki on visits to her grandchildren and great grandchildren in Seattle, WA. and Denver, CO., where she was known as GG. She and granddaughter Maeve twice celebrated their March birth-days in NYC together.
Eileen was preceded in death by her husband, Owen; her mother and father, Delia and John; siblings, John, Kathleen, Eugene; daughter-in-law, Suzanne. She is survived by her three children and their spouses (Kevin and Mary, Brian and Vicki, Kathleen and Peter); her grandchildren and their spouses: (from Kevin) Emily and Elliot, Connor and Cate, Isabelle; (from Brian) Christopher and Jennifer, Daniel and Kelly, Laura and Christopher Shipp; and (from Kathleen) Maeve. Her great grandchildren are Suzi and Owen (Emily); Janea (Christopher); Hailey and Owen (Daniel); and Emma and Madeline (Laura).
Memorial mass will be Saturday, Jan. 17, 2015 at 10am at St. Ignatius of Antioch Catholic Church, 3351 Contra Loma Blvd., Antioch CA 94509. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to a hospice organization or a charity of your own choice.