Mary Keating

Mary Keating Mary Keating of Hilton Head Island died Tuesday March 30, 2010 at her home. She was born Mary Helen Buss on November 30, 1914 in Rochester, New York. Her father, Francis Theodore Buss, was a chemical salesman. Her mother, Helen Shultz Buss, was a pioneer in the field of family planning serving as Executive Director of the Maternal Health Association of St. Louis, a predecessor of Planned Parenthood. Growing up in St. Louis, Missouri, she and her sister, Frances, sang and acted in a weekly radio program that promoted safety to children. Because she was an excellent student she was skipped over two elementary grades and graduated from University City High School at age 16. She earned a degree in psychology from Washington University (St. Louis), where she was a member of Pi Beta Phi sorority. In 2007 the Hilton Head Island Pi Phi alumni chapter honored her for 75 years of active membership. After college she moved to New York City and worked as a secretary for Gibbs & Cox, a firm that designed naval vessels used in World War II. She met Jack Keating, a handsome US Navy ensign, on a blind date on New Years Eve of 1942 and it was love at first sight. They married on May 24, 1943, just before the Navy shipped him to the South Pacific, where he tested mines to be used in harbors. Their only child, Frances, was born in 1945. After the war Jack worked briefly in management in the textile industry, which took the family to Mexico for 3 years. The rest of his career was in the packaging industry, which involved frequent moves. Consequently, Mary set up housekeeping in 19 different homes in the course of their marriage, the final one being on Hilton Head Island after Jack's retirement in 1981. On Hilton Head Island, she and Jack became master gardeners and were active with the Farmers on Hilton Head Plantation, Jack serving as president. They were members of Dolphin Head Golf Club where they both enjoyed playing golf for years. Mary volunteered in the chart room at Volunteers in Medicine for many years. She was a two-time survivor of breast cancer and attended Reach to Recovery meetings for many years because "seeing an old broad like me might encourage some of the younger women battling breast cancer." She loved solving crossword puzzles as well as watching and talking sports, especially baseball, tennis and hockey. Even in her late 80s she kept a box score at a Chicago Cubs game in Wrigley Field. She also enjoyed playing bridge and watching the birds at her feeders. In her final years many kind people made it possible for her to remain in her home. Delivery volunteers brought Meals on Wheels. Loving caregivers from Companions, Nurses and Nannies added immensely to her quality of life, and more recently, staff and volunteers from Hospice Care of the Lowcountry were of great help and comfort to her and her family. She was preceded in death by her husband in 1999 and by her sister, Frances Buss Buch, in January, 2010. She is survived by her daughter, Frances Keating Spencer (Ross) of Inverness, IL; two grandchildren, Mark Dee Spencer (Lori) of Northbrook, IL and Sharon Spencer Kellogg (Mark) of Arlington Heights, IL; three great grandchildren, Daniel, Matthew and Jane as well as devoted friends June and Ed Arnold, Gerry and Dave Whitfield, and Kathleen and Dennis Stauffer. At her request, there will be no services. The family will hold a memorial gathering at a later date. For those wishing to make memorial donations, the family suggests Hospice Care of the Lowcountry, PO Box 3827, Bluffton, SC 29910; Volunteers in Medicine, 20 Palmetto Parkway, Hilton Head Island, SC 29926; the American Cancer Society, PO Box 22718, Oklahoma City, OK 73123; or Meals on Wheels, P.O. Box 23691, Hilton Head Island, SC 29925. The Island Funeral Home and Crematory is in charge of arrangements.