Mary Patricia Viri

Mary Patricia Viri (nee Harris) passed for the first time beneath the Golden Gate Bridge on the USS Lurline (serving as a WWII troop ship) and disembarked at the Port of San Francisco in 1945.  She was arriving with her two-year-old son as an Australian war bride after having previously wedded an American soldier serving in New Guinea during the war. They had met and married in Sydney where the young soldier, Rinaldo R. Viri, had been granted leave.   Mary considered her new beginning in America after her family’s weathering the tribulations of the great depression followed by the constant threat of invasion and war with Japan as the most defining event in her life.  This new postwar beginning came to fruition when she joined her recently discharged husband and their young son, Denis, later to be followed by the birth of a second son, Peter.  The young family initially resided in South San Francisco before purchasing their home in San Mateo in 1948 where they resided continuously until the present day. 

Mary passed-away peacefully in Redwood City at the age of 101 years, remaining ever-appreciative to the end for the life she richly enjoyed raising their children with her husband in the North Peninsula of the San Francisco Bay Area

Mary was born Christmas Day, 1923, in the bustling railroad town of Junee, New South Wales, Australia, to Marie Margaret Harris and Noel James Treweek. At the outbreak of World War II, Mary was already working in the war effort during her late teens with Australia’s Emergency Services in Sydney where she met her handsome Italian-American US soldier, Rinaldo, who sang to her and her family in his great operatic tenor voice. They married in 1943, a union that lasted until 2000 when he passed away. 

In the early years, Mary was initially employed at Armour Corporation in South San Francisco and then as executive secretary to the operations manager of United Airlines at San Francisco International Airport after the family’s move to San Mateo.  Rinaldo Viri was employed as a police officer with the City of San Mateo for twenty years, retiring in 1972.  Their third child, Joanne Marie was born in San Mateo.  During most of the 1950s until 1970, Mary concentrated her efforts on raising and supporting their three children in their San Mateo home and schools they attended. She also supported and enjoyed her husband’s avocation as an operatic singer as he starred in productions of the Peninsula Light Opera Association, television programs where he was featured as “the singing cop of San Mateo,” and his vocal liturgical support of high holiday services at Temple Beth-El in San Mateo   

A highlight and defining aspect in Mary’s life was her enduring Catholic faith and commitment to supporting schools and parish. The Viri family was initially part of St. Mathews Parish and all three children attended St. Mathew’s School.  Later St. Timothy church was constructed in the Shoreview area and consecrated in 1955.  After the passing of her husband Rinaldo in 2000, Mary became a dedicated full time volunteer in the Parish office, undertaking a variety of significant tasks supporting administration and parishioner needs.  She retired upon the onset of the pandemic but retained her ties and relationships with the clergy and parish staff.  

In the early 1970s, as her children were approaching adulthood and independence, Mary pursued a life-long interest in drama and writing and enrolled at College of San Mateo where she was awarded an Associate of Arts degree with honors in 1982.  Under the tutelage of Irene Griffin of the Drama Department, Mary starred as the widow Ase in Henrik Ibsen’s Peer Gynt and Jean Anouilh’s The Lark (French: L’Alouette) is a 1952 play about Joan of Arc.

Mary is survived by sons, Denis (Zulma), Peter (Carol) and daughter, Joanne Marie Carre.  She has eight grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.  Although her parents, brothers and sisters are long-deceased, she has numerous living relatives in Australia with whom she has had opportunities to visit and maintain relationships over the years.

A Rosary prayer service and visitation will take place Thursday, September 11, 6:00 pm at Sneider & Sullivan & O’Connell’s Funeral Home, 977 S. El Camino Real San Mateo.  A Funeral Mass will follow on Friday, September 12, 2025, 10 am at St. Timothy Church, 1515 Dolan Ave, San Mateo.  A reception will follow in the parish hall.  Interment will be private at St. John’s Cemetery, San Mateo.