Mary T Flynn

Mary T. Flynn (nee Eldridge), 102, was born in Philadelphia, the daughter of Edwin Eldridge and Theresa Kelly Eldridge. A graduate of Philadelphia’s West Catholic Girls High School, she worked for the Philadelphia telephone company and was courted by Frank J. Flynn, who also lived in her parish and enlisted in the U.S. Navy just weeks before Pearl Harbor.
They maintained a long-distance relationship until, in the midst of World War II, he proposed and asked her to join him in Miami, where they were married at Gesu Church.
Self-proclaimed “not a joiner,” she dedicated one year each to her children’s grade school classes and to their times in the Cub Scouts, the Brownies and the Girl Scouts at St. Michael’s and Epiphany parish schools.

She was the silent, at-home support to Frank’s early years as the founder and director of The Spring-Go – the major fund-raiser dinner dance for St. Michael’s - and at its 25th Anniversary celebration.

The two were among the earliest members of Miami’s Emerald Society and the Order of the Alhambra, a Catholic fraternal and philanthropic organization dedicated to assisting persons who are intellectually disabled or handicapped. 

Her home was a quiet refuge for her children’s friends, missionary priests and Sisters, and more than a few strangers. For more than twenty Christmas Eves, she opened her home to hundreds – whole families and men and women who would otherwise spend the night alone – for Midnight Mass. More than a generation of young people grew up knowing no other way to observe this special feast.

The family wishes to express their profound gratitude for the outstanding care Mrs. Flynn received over the past nine years from Evelin Orozco Corzo, Dianelys Teresa Montiel Enriquez, Yaima Gomez and Yailin D. Oliva Corzo, including the fact that they made certain that she received her daily late-afternoon piece of dark chocolate.

Predeceased by her husband, Frank (January,1998) and her son Barry (December, 2020), she is survived by her daughter Colleen Butcher of Vero Beach, and grandson Blaine Butcher of Lakeland, and sons Michael and Rev. Francis J. (Skipper) Flynn of Miami.

A Mass of the Resurrection will be celebrated at 11:00 AM on Monday, June 14 at the Church of the Epiphany, 8235 S.W. 57 Avenue, South Miami, followed immediately by interment at Woodlawn South Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, she would want you to treat yourself or a neighbor to a new orchid plant or a fresh bouquet of flowers - and some really good dark chocolate candy every day at 4:00 p.m. In her honor, donations may be made to The Maryknoll Sisters Cloistered Contemplative Community, c/o The Maryknoll Sisters, Post Office Box 311, Maryknoll, New York 10545