PORTLAND — Mary C. Pickering, 92, of Virginia Street, died Aug. 1 at her home.

She was born in Portland on April 17, 1923, a daughter of Edward C. and Elizabeth A. (Carter) Harrigan. She attended local schools and graduated from Portland High School in the class of 1941.

Mary married Frederick A. Pickering Jr. on Jan. 26, 1947, at Sacred Heart Church in Portland. She went on to pursue a lifelong vocation as a homemaker.

She loved telling stories about growing up on Portland’s West End during the Great Depression. She is also remembered for her generosity, irreverent sense of humor and inability to sit when she could be dancing. Her greatest joy in life was being with her large Irish family.

Pickering loved the Boston Red Sox and never missed an opportunity to watch a game. She enjoyed playing beano for over 30 years at St. Pius X Church, and attending the annual Maine Country Music Hall of Fame to see performances by her friend Betty Gribbon. She also enjoyed browsing garage sales and testing her luck with slot machines, horse racing and lottery tickets. She found politics entertaining, and always voted.

She was a communicant of St. Pius X Church and a former communicant of Sacred Heart Church and of St. Patrick’s Church.

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She was predeceased by her husband; two sons, Edward S. Pickering and Frederick A. Pickering III; four sisters, Margaret Hartley, Frances Dorion, Bernice Turner and Dolly Sturgeon; and a grandson, Paul E. Martin.

She is survived by three daughters, Elizabeth Huntley and her husband, Kenny, of Portland, Cathy Nally, of Portland, and Carol Duncanson, of Westbrook; two sons, Joseph G. Pickering and his wife, Wanda, of South Portland, and Daniel E. Pickering and his wife, Anne, of Portland; a brother, William Harrigan, of Portland; two sisters, Lorraine Cutter, of Westbrook, and Betty Hines, of Portland; 16 grandchildren, Eric Wendel, Billie J. Huntley, Nancy Nadeau and her husband, Brad, Annie Poplaski and her husband, Mark, Mary Craig and her husband, Tony, Deanna Ryan and her husband, Scott, Frederick Pickering IV and his wife, Lindsey, Katie Soods and her husband, Jeevs, Emily Pickering, Austin Pickering and his wife, Kristen, Eliot Pickering, Olivia Pickering, Jennifer Patterson and her husband, Joshua, Daniel Pickering, Artie Duncanson, Andrew Duncanson and Aaron Duncanson; 17 great-grandchildren and many nieces and nephews.

The family extends special thanks to Kenny Huntley, David Olson and Hospice of Southern Maine for their care.

A Mass of Christian burial was scheduled to be celebrated Tuesday, Aug. 4, at 11:30 a.m., at St. Pius X Church, 492 Ocean Ave., Portland. Burial was to follow at Calvary Cemetery, South Portland.

Memorial donations may be made to Hospice of Southern Maine, 180 U.S. Route 1, Suite 1, Scarborough, ME 04074.

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