Obituary of Mary Theresa McIntyre

October 29, 1930 - December 9, 2019

Mary T. McIntyre.  Age 89 formerly of Garden City.

Beloved wife of the late Robert McIntyre.  Loving mother of Sue (Jim) Morrow, Linda (Tom) Palermo, Michael (Robin) McIntyre, Debbie (Gary) Heard and Kathy (Richard) Kasperek.  Dearest grandmother of Dawn Montgomery, Dale Yanick, Tanya (Sinan Tigun) Palermo, Renee (Chris Fenech) Palermo, Casey McIntyre, Lauren Heard, Rachel Heard, Connor Kasperek, Kailee Kasperek, James (Jennifer) Morrow and Chris Morrow.  Dear Great grandmother of Evan, Jack, Carson, Elena and Grace. Sister of Carmen Bava, Joe Sanchez and Virginia Atha. Preceded in death by parents Nazario and Louise Sanchez and 6 siblings.

Family Tribute

Mary McIntyre grew up in Detroit MI with her 9 siblings and parents. She was the daughter of Mexican immigrants that moved initially to Texas and then Detroit to make a better life for their family. Mary was the 6th child of Louisa and Nazario Sanchez.  Mary and her siblings worked hard for what they had. They struggled at times but it made them closer as a family. Mary graduated in 1949 from Western High School in Detroit near Clark Park. Once she graduated she worked downtown at a retail store as a sales clerk, until she met her husband Bob.

Mary met Bob in the late 1940’s.  They were introduced to each other when Bob’s brother was dating Mary’s sister. Love blossomed and they married in 1951 and immediately started a family. They grew their family over the next 40 years with 4 daughters and 1 son. Family was very important to Mary. Mary would make every birthday or holiday special as she knew how important it was. She wanted to celebrate every holiday at her house. While it was a lot of work she didn’t mind as long as everyone was together.

Mary was a devoted catholic. Religion was very important to her. She went to church every weekend. She made sure all her kids received their sacraments. She wanted to share her faith with her family as she knew how special it was to have God in her life. Even as she became sick, Bob would take her to church until it became too hard for both of them to go.

Mary was a Detroit Tiger baseball fan. She would love to watch the games on TV. She followed their schedule and at times was lucky to attend a game or two.  She also was a bowler. She bowled with her daughter Sue for a number of years at Fiesta Lanes.  Mary and Bob also enjoyed traveling and horse racing. She and Bob would often go to Kentucky with their friends and family to catch the races and enjoy their time together.

Mary also carried on her traditions of making homemade Mexican food that she shared with her mother and siblings. We would have tamale parties at Christmas time and it was a tradition to have Mexican food for Christmas Eve. Everyone would go to Grandma Sanchez’s house to eat and see all the cousins and then attend Christmas Eve mass with the family.

Mary and Bob loved each other dearly. They had good times and worked through the bad times. They were a great team.  Bob worked a lot so that Mary could stay home to raise the family. Mary was left in charge of raising the kids. She taught us strong family values and how important it was to have manners, values, and religion in our lives.  She also had to be the “enforcer” to discipline us at times but you knew she did it for the right reasons.

Mary and Bob were married for 66 years until Bob’s passing in 2017. He would always make sure his bride would get yellow roses for their anniversary. After Bob’s passing, her son Michael carried on the tradition to make sure she would get yellow roses for her birthday or special occasions.

Mary’s life changed 7 years ago when she suffered a stroke and she lost her short term memory. Slowly dementia took over and the mother we remembered began to fade. She fought this disease for as long as she could until her body gave out on her.

Mary was the most caring, selfless loving person you could know. She was the best mother, grandmother and great grandmother ever.  She would fight for her family and children to give them the best life that she could.  We have comfort now that we know she is with Bob and her family members that have passed. We know that God has welcomed her into heaven and is at peace.