In Memoriam

Mary Gabriel Creaghan
Class of '33

Mary Gabriel Creaghan, a Loyola (Baltimore) High School librarian who during her nearly four-decade career helped generations of students appreciate the world of books and letters, died in her sleep January 2, 2010, at St. Elizabeth Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Baltimore. She was 98.

The daughter of a contractor and a homemaker, Mary was born in Marriottsville, MD and raised in Pikesville, MD. A 1929 graduate of St. Joseph Academy, Emmitsburg, Mary earned her B.A. degree in English in 1933 from SJC.

Mary Topper Dehart, daughter of Adele Myers Topper, a classmate of Mary Creaghan at St. Joseph Academy, found that the 1929 Academy yearbook noted that Mary Creaghan’s nickname was “Cricket,” and that she was fond of literature and known for her “good marks.” The yearbook also noted that the 1929 class prophecy was, “Cricket still lives in Pikesville and right now is standing on a soap box in the main street, giving an oration to her eager listeners.”

Mary was a librarian for three years in the Canton branch of Baltimore’s Enoch Pratt Free Library before becoming librarian in 1936 at Loyola High School.

Early on, she established a lasting reputation as a no-nonsense librarian who expected students to respect the sanctity of her library, and the students who were reading or studying there.

"She was a very formidable lady and one we feared. For many years, she was the lone female member of the faculty," said Fr. Michael J. Roach, a Loyola High School graduate, faculty member at Mount St. Mary’s University, and pastor of St. Bartholomew Church, Manchester, MD.

"She took nothing off anybody and put the fear of God in us. In those early years, I was scared to death of her, but later on, we became close friends. She really was quite an interesting person and a great gal," he said.

The library was her sole "realm and dominion," Fr. Roach added, “and only the unwise would risk arousing her considerable ire if they dared challenge her standing order that strict silence be maintained at all time. I can still hear her shoes clicking across the floor if she heard any talking or whispering—or worse—laughing coming from one of the library's nooks and crannies."

"The more perceptive students warmed up to her, even though she had a formidable exterior. She really was one of my great memories of Loyola," Fr. Roach said. "She was a real hoot. A great character."

Dr. Vincent deP. Fitzpatrick III, a longtime Loyola High School faculty member, author and curator of the H. L. Mencken Collection at the Enoch Pratt Free Library, recalled that Mary “brooked no nonsense. She also read everything and remembered it all and was boundlessly generous with her time as we discussed the world of books. Mary Creaghan helped to teach me an invaluable lesson—the importance of the reflective life, the life of the mind."

Douglas W. Campbell, who graduated in 1968 from Loyola High School and is now a pharmacist, recalled his first meeting with Mary as being less than auspicious.

"She threw me out of the library on my first visit for talking," said Mr. Campbell. "I later volunteered in the library and we became friends. She was a very sweet lady with a charming smile, but stern when it came to her library," he said.

He recalled her generosity and willingness in ordering books or magazines if a student expressed an interest in a certain subject.

"Not much went on in the library that she didn't know about," said John Weetenkamp, a 1965 graduate and former English teacher at the school, who is now director of its Ignatian Mission and Identity program.

"Miss Creaghan really loved what she did in an age when books were more symbolic with learning," he said.

The Loyola High School library is named for Mary, who retired in 1975.

"She loved reading and passed that along to her nieces and nephews," said a nephew, Stephen G. Creaghan of Boxboro, MA. "She collected books—not rare books—but books that she wanted to read. She had piles of them."

In 1975, when Pope Paul VI canonized Elizabeth Ann Seton, Mary traveled to Rome for the ceremony.

She enjoyed crocheting afghans for her nieces and nephews and taking them on trips when they were children and later teenagers. She liked walking and was an avid Orioles baseball fan and a bird watcher.

Also surviving are a brother, Robert E. Creaghan of Pikesville; four other nephews; and two nieces.

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