Mary Craden

Mary Craden was born on June 5, 1917 in St. Louis, Missouri to Frank and Edna (Kirkwood) Bayless. She was the oldest child, with a younger brother, Frank, two step brothers, Bill and Keith and a step sister, Denise. Her family struggled greatly during the depression years, but they were never short on love for one another. Mary graduated from Dewey High School on Clayton Road.

Mary served her country as one of the Rosie Riveters. She inspected the bullets as they came down the line so the soldiers would be safe. She started her career at Loose Leaf Metal as a timekeeper and worked there for more than 20 years. She had several different jobs along the way until she ended her working years when she retired from Francis Howell School District after more than 25 years as a kitchen server, a job she truly loved. Mary worked until she was 95 years old! She enjoyed working and always said it kept her young!

Mary’s love life started many, many years ago. She had a party at her mom’s apartment and invited some friends over. The friends invited Ward and that is how she met her first husband. Mary and Ward dated for a couple years and then married on March 25, 1933. They enjoyed jitterbug and swing dancing. They had three children…. Larry, Darlene, and Sandra “Sandy." Ward passed away on September 24, 1973 after 40 years of marriage. Mary and Ward had nine grandchildren, Sean, Shea, Nicki, Terre, Jerry, Danny, Candy, Wendy, and Eric. She also had fourteen great-grandchildren and eleven great- great- grandchildren.

After Ward’s death, Mary was fortunate enough to meet her second husband, Larry Craden, at a bar where Darlene worked. He came up to her and asked her to dance. Mary turned him down the first time, but Larry was persistent and asked her again and she finally accepted. They dated for several months and then Mary and Larry were married in 1975, her second love. They did not have any children, but Larry had seven children who lovingly accepted Mary as their stepmother. Larry passed away after 25 years of marriage.

After Larry’s death, Mary, at the age of 83, again was lucky enough to meet Jim Byrnes on a blind date which was set up by her girlfriend. They dated for five years, but never married. Jim was a pilot and took her up in his plane for the adventures of a life-time. They also went up in a hot-air balloon! Mary and Jim did a lot of dancing. They went to a “hanger” dance where Mary was dressed up as a nurse caring for Jim in a wheel chair and took first prize… two years in a row! Jim passed away so it happened that Mary outlived three men! She always said she looked upon herself as a “black widow.” She loved them and then lost them.

As you can see, Mary truly enjoyed life. She lived alone until she was 101, loved going shopping, even drove her car until she was 100, and was dancing until she was 98 years old. She never took any lessons, but she was just a natural on the dance floor! She always enjoyed being with her family and friends just going out to dinner and enjoying time together. For 20 years, once a month, she and seven girlfriends met at each other’s homes, told joke, gossiped, and solved all the problems of the world, as she would say.

Sadly, Mary outlived two husbands, one boyfriend and all three of her children. Never one to dwell on her losses, she was always on the lookout for someone to date and dance with. She was quite a woman!

Mary passed away on August 27, 2019, at 102 years of age in Akron, Ohio where her granddaughter, Terre and her family live. Today we celebrate Mary and the long, full life that she lived. She was loved by all and will be missed, but how blessed we were to have had her in our lives for so many years. Each of us has our many happy memories of her that will bring a smile as time goes by.

Rest in peace, dear Mary……