Mary Catherine McGinty passed away peacefully on June 10, 2023 at the Partridge Tippett Nursing Home at Wesley Village in Inkerman, PA.
Mary Catherine was born to Robert J. Reddington, Sr. and Mary Collier Reddington on November 17, 1929 in the Cork Lane section of Pittston. She graduated from St. John’s High School in Pittston in 1947 and upon graduation, worked first as a telephone operator with the Bell Telephone Company, then in the business office helping with the conversion to our current direct dialing system. As she told it, not only did working the big switchboard keep her then 24” waist slim as she reached across the board to connect calling parties, she and her fellow operators were also privy to all the town’s gossip including who was courting whom and who was wooing multiple ladies at the same time. Through her friend and fellow telephone operator, Betty McGinty Gildea, she was introduced to Betty’s brother and her future husband, Terry McGinty, Sr., whom she married on September 26, 1953.
After their marriage, the couple moved into the McGinty homestead in Inkerman where Mary Catherine continued to hold varied and interesting jobs while she and Terry raised three children. After telephone calls became direct dial and operators were no longer needed, Mary Catherine found a new job and learned a new skill – how to operate a cigar wrapping machine. She was well known at the Consolidated Cigar Company in West Pittston for her skill at being able to work “from the left or right” on the machine that applied the final “wrapper” to cigars. Her cigar seams were always straight- no “seconds” from her machine! After leaving Consolidated Cigar and taking the Civil Service test, Mary Catherine spent the next 25 years of her working life with the U.S. Government Bureau of Veterans’ Appeals and the Social Security Administration Office of Hearings and Appeals in Wilkes-Barre, PA where she advanced from the typing pool to a position as a paralegal, assisting judges with writing decisions on the merits of applicants’ requests for disability benefits. She retired from the Social Security Administration in December 1994 and began a medical transcription business from her home, serving various medical offices in the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton area until her final retirement at age 75. Throughout her life, Mary Catherine had a keen interest in all things medical and the knowledge gained through her work was fascinating to her.
Mary Catherine and Terry enjoyed 56 happy years of marriage until his death in 2009. Their home was the site of many holiday dinners for extended family and family reunions each summer for many years. They enjoyed dancing together at the Big Band Society events (only Mary Catherine could follow Terry’s lead – he stepped on everyone else’s toes), going on cruises with dear friends and family, attending baseball/soccer/t-ball games of their grandchildren, and enjoying time spent with many dear lifelong friends. And they loved their porch. After Terry’s death, Mary Catherine and a close circle of girlfriends who had also lost their husbands, were a weekly fixture at Agolino’s for Friday night dinners where they frequently closed the place (at 8 pm).
Family meant everything to Mary Catherine and she was our rock. Her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren were the pride and joy of her life. She was the eternal optimist whose cup was always more than half full. Her motto was that laughter is the best defense no matter the problem and practiced this all her life, able to find a laugh in almost any situation. She believed that “everything would work out” for the best, placing her trust in God and thus evading much stress and tension throughout her life with this philosophy guiding her.
In addition to her parents, Mary Catherine was predeceased by an infant daughter, brothers Robert J. Reddington, Jr. and John P. Reddington, PhD; sister Nancy Saltzman; and her aunt Catherine Reddinton whom she considered to be a second mother.
Mary Catherine is survived by her sons Terry Jr. and his wife Jean, and Patrick Sr. (Inkerman); and daughter Mary Kate (Philadelphia). She is also survived by six grandchildren, Terry McGinty III and his wife Kathleen (Springfield, NJ); Kelly McGinty Long and her husband Matthew (Marlton, NJ); Carolyn McGinty Hartman and her husband Gary (Hershey, PA); Ellen McGinty; Katie McGinty (Chicago); Patrick McGinty Jr. (Inkerman); and four great-grandchildren, Libby (Carolyn and Gary); Gemma and Desi (Terry III and Kathleen); and, Benjamin and Emerson (Kelly and Matthew).
Mary Catherine will be greatly missed by her family and friends but her love, kindness, strength, and grace will be remembered always.
The family will receive friends and relatives Thursday, June 15, 2023, from 5-7pm in Adonizio Funeral Home, LLC, 251 William Street, Pittston. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated Friday, June 16, 2023, at 10am in St. Maria Goretti Parish, 42 Redwood Drive, Laflin. Those attending are asked to go directly to the church. Interment, St. John the Evangelist Cemetery, Pittston.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Care and Concern Free Clinic, 37 William St, Pittston, PA 18640.