 CONRAD, MARY ("MUFFY") P. Long-time Albuquerque resident, Mary ("Muffy") P. Conrad, age 86, died May 13, 2013, in Oakland, CA, after a prolonged battle with Alzheimers disease. In the wide-ranging family of which she was a part, she was the last surviving member of an entire generation, being preceded in death by her husband of forty years, Dr. James K. Conrad; brothers Tim Hazard and Oliver Hazard; sisters Anne Richardson and Sia Barringer; her first husband Edwin C. Hoyt; and eight brothers and sisters-in-law. She is survived by four children Will Hoyt, of Cadiz, Ohio, Molly Cashin, of Washington, DC, Emily Blossom, of Berkeley, CA, and Ben Conrad, also of Berkeley, CA; two stepchildren Kirk Conrad, of Gainesville, FL, and Christine Reyes, of Bethesda, MD; eighteen grandchildren; and six great- grandchildren. Muffy was born April 12, 1927 in Providence to Thomas and Anne Hazard of Peacedale, RI, owners of the textile mill that at one time employed most of that town's residents. After attending Shady Hill School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Ethel Walker School in Simsbury, Connecticut, and Sarah Lawrence College in New York, Muffy worked as a receptionist at Harper & Row, NY, before marrying her first husband Ed in 1953, bearing three children in quick succession and then relocating to Albuquerque in 1959 when Ed got a job teaching political science at UNM. That marriage failed, but in 1968 Muffy found new life by marrying again, this time to her beloved Jim, who practiced cardiology at Lovelace Clinic. Jim had children from a former marriage just as Muffy did, hence Muffy suddenly found herself managing a household with five teenaged children. She enjoyed the challenge and when her new family's size increased to eight with the arrival of Ben a year later, she found ample new occasions for laughter, which had long been her best asset. She also enjoyed hiking in the Sangre de Cristo mountains, swimming, chamber music, traveling, reading, and thanks to regular visits to the ocean and annual extended visits to the shore of northern Lake Michigan -- beachcombing. A memorial service, with burial of ashes following, will be held June 8th, 3:30PM at Wacousta Cemetery in Grand Ledge, Michigan. All are invited.
|
