Mary McNeany remembered for sense of humor, love of family

Mary McNeany was a young schoolteacher and bride in Wisconsin when she uprooted in 1951 and moved with her groom to Santa Rosa, where she became matriarch of the prominent and generous family that ran the landmark Rosenberg’s Department Store.

For 55 years the wife of community leader Bill McNeany, Mary McNeany died Sunday at the age of 87. He died in 2006.

“She loved the simple things,” said one of her eight children, Therese McNeany-Peifer of Santa Rosa. In some of her happiest moments, she took in the splendor of sunset at Lake Tahoe, the love of her life at her side.

Long among Santa Rosa’s favorite couples, Bill and Mary McNeany met as students at Marquette University in Milwaukee. The bride was 23 when they married on Aug. 4, 1951, then climbed into a Buick convertible for the cross-country drive to Sonoma County.

Bill McNeany’s father, Joseph, had lost his department store in Fond du Lac, Wis., to a fire and had heard of a store for sale in Santa Rosa. He’d arranged to buy Santa Rosa’s crown jewel of retail, Rosenberg’s, from the Rosenberg family.

Bill McNeany went to work for his father and upon Joseph’s death in 1979 assumed ownership of the art deco emporium at Fourth and D streets.

Mary McNeany ran things at home, and she immersed herself in the cultural and philanthropic life of the city. Former Rosenberg’s shoppers may remember her modeling during the holidays in dresses that matched those worn by her daughters.

She quietly donated to myriad causes benefiting families and individuals facing hardship. “She was a low-key, behind-the-scenes type of person,” said son Bill McNeany of Santa Rosa. “It made her feel good to do something for someone.”

She and her late husband savored their friendships with some of old Santa Rosa’s leading citizens - the Rattigans, McDonalds, Koniceks, Romeros, McLaurens.

“She was such a lovable person,” said longtime friend Henry Trione. “She always had a smile on her face. And she had a real Irish sense of humor.”

An avid traveler, McNeany counted as one of her favorite adventures a trip to Rome with her husband, her late brother, Msgr. John Donovan, and Father Gary Lombardi of Petaluma’s St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church. The highlight: a private audience with Pope John Paul II.

The McNeanys also trekked often to Lake Tahoe, one of Mary McNeany’s favorite places. She was a voracious reader of books on the best-seller list and a woman deeply pleased by a game of dominoes or bridge with friends at the Wild Oak Saddle Club.

She was a loyal fan of the San Francisco 49ers and the Giants. “She never missed a game on television,” said son Bill McNeany.

She also was the greatest fan of eight grown children, 12 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

“She was very much a family person,” said daughter McNeany-Peifer. “And she loved her faith; she was a very faithful Catholic. She enjoyed simple things: time with family and friends. Taking walks. Obviously, Number One was her husband.”

In addition to her son and daughter in Santa Rosa, McNeany is survived by children John, Joseph and Patrick McNeany, all of Santa Rosa; Elizabeth Dericco of Healdsburg, Kathleen Veon of Sacramento, and Mary Ellen Struck of Sturgeon Bay, Wis.

Recitation of the rosary is at 7 p.m. Thursday at Lafferty & Smith Colonial Chapel. A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Friday at St. Eugene’s Cathedral.