Jane Higgins Hurley, 90, matriarch

Jane Higgins Hurley, 90, the matriarch of a large Bryn Mawr family, died Saturday, March 28, of cardiopulmonary arrest at Waverly Heights, Gladwyne.

The pillars of Mrs. Hurley's life were faith and family: She was baptized and married at Our Mother of Good Counsel Church in Bryn Mawr; her Mass of Christian Burial will be held there Wednesday, April 1.

A homemaker, Mrs. Hurley and her husband, Joseph J. Hurley, reared 12 children in Villanova and then Bryn Mawr.

"She raised her children with a gentle and loving touch," said her family in a prepared statement. "Seldom raising her voice, Jane Hurley led and taught her children by quiet example."

Born in 1924, Mrs. Hurley was the daughter of Catherine T. and James J. Higgins Sr. She grew up on Barrett Avenue in Haverford and in 1950 married Hurley, who lived a few doors away.

Mrs. Hurley graduated from West Catholic High School for Girls in 1942. She worked briefly as an office administrator for an attorney before earning a degree in dental hygiene from the University of Pennsylvania in 1946. She was a hygienist for dentist Abraham Hobson.

A veteran of World War II, Mr. Hurley became president of the Title Insurance Corp. of Pennsylvania. The two were married for 48 years. He died in 1998.

Mrs. Hurley golfed at the Overbrook Golf Club for nearly five decades. She was active in the parent-teacher organization at her children's elementary school.

She is survived by sons Joseph Jr., James, John, Robert, Daniel, and Thomas; daughters Margaret H. McConlogue, Catherine H. Johnson, Mary Jane Corzel, Regina, Christine H. Henefer, and Suzanne H. McCormick; 28 grandchildren, and a sister.

A Funeral Mass will be at 11 a.m. Wednesday, April 1, at Our Mother of Good Counsel Church, 31 Pennswood Rd., Bryn Mawr, 19010. Interment is in St. Denis Cemetery.

Donations may be made to the church at the address above or to Holisticare Hospice, 1131 Lancaster Ave., Suite 200, Berwyn, Pa. 19312.