Mary Josephine Griffin Proxee

PROXEE, Mary Josephine (Conway) Griffin Mary Josephine (Conway) Griffin Proxee passed into the hands of her heavenly Father peacefully, early morning on Monday (May 7, 2007) with her family at her side. Mary was the daughter of the late Patrick and Annie (Dowling) Conway. She and her late husband, James V. Proxee, resided in West Hartford for over 20 years. Upon his death Mary made her residence with her son, Dr. H. David Griffin, in the town of Columbia for over nine years. Miss Mary, as she was referred to by all of her customers, worked for over 20 years as a hair dresser at John Your Hairdresser in Hartford. She also worked for the Travelers Insurance Company for many years part time and then full time after retiring from hairdressing. Besides her son, Mary also leaves her loving daughter, Patricia Anne Barker and her husband, Rodney of Canton. Her six grandchildren have many great memories of their YaYa and grandma. She loved each of them from the oldest to the youngest, James Barker, John Barker, Deborah (Barker) Perry and her husband, Ron, Christopher Griffin and his wife, Rachel, Brendan Griffin and her youngest grandson, Daniel Griffin, who did so much for his YaYa in her later years. Mary was also a great-grandmother to three beautiful children, Katie Ann Griffin, Josh Perry and his sister, Maura Hope Perry. Sadness is that Mary will not meet her other great-granddaughter, Katie's sister, who is due in August, a day shy of Mary's 90th birthday. Because of Mary's love of writing , she continued a childhood correspondence with her first cousins in Ireland. She and her husband, Jim and grandson, Jimmy traveled to Ireland on a number of occasions and strengthened that bond with her Irish cousins that continues today. Joe and Netta Murphy are her cousin's children who hosted Jim and Mary on their wedding trip in 1977. Mary was predeceased by her brothers, John, Walter, James, Thomas, and Al and her sister, Lenore. One of her greatest sadnesses was the loss of her daughter-in-law, Annmarie Griffin and her grandson, Kevin Griffin. Mary was always there for everyone. She will be sorely missed. Her smile was one that one never forgot because it was so genuine. A special thank you to the staff of Douglas Manor who cared for Mary over the past three months and to Kathy Bartlett who tended Mary at home for four plus years.