Mary Fox (née Smyth) died on September 12, 2026, at the age of 99. Born in County Leitrim, Ireland, one of nine children, she was as self-reliant as she was kind-hearted. In her early twenties she left home, working in Dublin and then London, holding down two jobs to save enough to emigrate to the U.S. A Pan Am gate manager upgraded her to First Class on the flight over and helped her land a job on arrival—proof, she always said, that you make your own luck.

While raising two sons in upper Manhattan on her husband Jimmy’s bartender salary, she started a summer tennis program in Inwood Park and persuaded the City to fund it, giving free lessons and rackets to neighborhood children whose families had little. She went on to manage a travel agency in the Bronx, a career she loved and where her clients loved her back. After retiring to Cape Cod with Jimmy, golf became her passion, and she built a new circle of friends on the greens.

Mary taught her family to believe in themselves and to create opportunity where others saw only barriers, and she lived long enough to share her hard-won wisdom with her grown grandchildren. In her final hours, she told her family she had no regrets—and that she didn't want them to have any, either.

Mary is survived by her two sons, Joe and John; her daughter-in-law, Steph; and her grandchildren, Amelia and Aidan.

A funeral Mass will be celebrated on Monday, September 28, at 11 a.m. at St. Pius X Church, Station Ave., South Yarmouth, MA.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in Mary's name to Catholic Charities' Immigrant Services program: https://secure.qgiv.com/for/ccotdofrmi/.

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