Obituary of Mary P. Treanor

Mary Patricia Treanor, 82, passed away peacefully on Thursday, Sept. 11, 2014, in the MetroWest Medical Center in Framingham, Mass., surrounded by her children. Visitation will be held at Preston Funeral Home, 153 South Orange Ave., South Orange, N.J., on Monday, Sept. 15, from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. A Funeral Mass will be celebrated at Our Lady of Sorrows Church, 217 Prospect St., South Orange, on Tuesday, Sept. 16, at 10:30 a.m. Interment will follow in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, East Orange, N.J. For further information, please visit prestonfuneralhome.net. Ms. Treanor was the daughter of the late William and Sarah Treanor. She grew up in Harrison, N.J., and received her undergraduate degree from Caldwell University and two graduate degrees from Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, Ky. Ms. Treanor had her own radio program and worked at J. Walter Thompson advertising agency before her career of teaching reading and English, for which she received a grant from the Ford Foundation for excellence in teaching. A gifted singer, Ms. Treanor sang in a church choir for many years and enjoyed the opera as well as cooking, bird watching, and being with her children and grandchildren. For the past five years, she lived at the Emeritus Senior Living Facility in Framingham, Mass., near her daughters. Ms. Treanor was on the Emeritus Council, and loved by all. She is survived by her brother, Fr. Boniface of St. Benedict's in Newark, N.J.; her children, Megan O'Brien of Holliston, Mass.; Gregory O'Brien of Aliso Viejo, Calif.; Thomas O'Brien of Clifton, Va., and Susan Houle of Waltham, Mass., and 10 grandchildren, Mercedes, Benjamin, Kathleen, Samuel, Connor, Fletcher, Elizabeth, Spencer, Ivan, and Carolyn. In lieu of flowers, donations to Caldwell University, 120 Bloomfield Ave., Caldwell, N.J. 07006 would be appreciated.