Mary Ann Curley, 81, teacher

Mary Ann Curley, 81, of Bala Cynwyd, whose passion for teaching opened the eyes and minds of generations of Lower Merion students, died at home on Wednesday, Nov. 9, of complications from cancer.

Born in Philadelphia, she was 5 when her family moved to Bala Cynwyd. She attended Merion Mercy Academy, graduated from West Chester State Teachers College (now West Chester University) in 1952, and earned a master's degree in education from Temple University. She taught for 39 years at Penn Wynne Elementary School, where she was a perennial favorite among fourth graders.

Just last month, a former student now in Seattle spoke in a radio interview about how Ms. Curley taught him to remember numerators and denominators, said her niece, Lori Unterkoefler.

A whip-smart woman with perfect diction and a room-filling presence, she despised bad grammar. A Penn Wynne principal once likened her to Mary Poppins.

After retiring in 1991, Ms. Curley was a devoted volunteer at St. Matthias Roman Catholic Church, up the hill from her house.

A prominent member of the church's casserole program for St. John's Hospice in Center City, she took to heart Jesus' instruction to feed the hungry. Over three decades, the program provided tens of thousands of meals for homeless men, women, and children.

Ms. Curley co-edited the parish's centennial history, published in 2006. Her entry on how the famous Von Trapp family of Austrian singers escaped Europe and came to live in Merion from 1939 to 1942 begins wryly, "The family's exodus . . . was more complicated than the Sound of Music version."

In 2009, the Rev. Arthur Rodgers presented her with the church's outstanding service award.

Friends say she was her community's Rock of Gibraltar, civic conscience, and institutional memory. She was the neighbor who held the spare keys to everyone's house and heart.

"She was always the first to have her flags out for the Fourth of July," longtime neighbor Jeannie Sulby said. "When you turned down the street, her white house, always so well-kept, was looking over us, and so was she."

When one family moved overseas to a country that does not celebrate Halloween, Ms. Curley sent bags of candy corn, year after year, so the children could still experience the day.

She was an avid gardener and bridge player. As a lifelong member of the Neighborhood Club of Bala Cynwyd, she could be found each spring beautifying the flower beds outside the post office and public library.

"We planted the dogwood at the post office," said a friend, Debbie Wimmer. "She would always call me when it was blooming."

Forever curious, even about the digital revolution, Ms. Curley was unapologetically old school.

"Mary often bragged that she could not be Googled. It was true," Unterkoefler said. "In her kitchen hung a rotary dial phone until 1999."

A fiercely independent person who lived alone, she always spoke her mind.

Her brother, Jack Curley, recalled that after she was found to have advanced cancer about a month ago, she said, "Look, don't argue with me. I've had a good life. I'm coming home to die."

In addition to her brother and niece, she is survived by two nephews, Michael Curley and Chuck Curley; a cousin, Dolores Wilkinson; and their combined 12 children.

A viewing will be held from 9 to 10:45 a.m. Monday, Nov. 14, at St. Matthias Church, 128 Bryn Mawr Ave., Bala Cynwyd, followed at 11 a.m. by a Funeral Mass. Interment will be in Calvary Cemetery, Gulph and Matsonford Roads, West Conshohocken.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to St. Matthias Church.