Mrs. Mary Lynch Booz McElroy

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Mrs. Mary Lynch Booz McElroy, of Potomac Falls and Chincoteague Island, Va., died peacefully on June 19, 2018, after a period of failing health. She was 82.

Mrs. McElroy was born and raised in Philadelphia, where she lived until her marriage to Joseph H. McElroy Jr. in 1958. Her husband’s career in the U.S. Air Force took them all across the U.S. as their family grew with the addition of six children born between 1959 and 1969. As a full-time homemaker, Mrs. McElroy was active in the church and both Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, and was a perennial team mom, scorekeeper, and snack booth worker during her five sons’ Little League years. She also managed to earn an associate’s degree in travel and tourism.

In later years, children grown, Mrs. McElroy indulged in her passion for travel. She joined the CIA as an administrative assistant and, later, editor and lived abroad in Austria and Bahrain during separate tours of duty. Privately, she also traveled to China, Alaska, and her ancestral home — Ireland.

Mrs. McElroy’s other passion was the beach, and in the early 1990s she made a long-held dream a reality with the purchase of a home on Chincoteague Island. For many years this home served as her weekend retreat and a popular family getaway, and she moved there fulltime in 2012. With the help of family and a devoted team of caregivers, she was able to remain in her home there until shortly before her death.

Mrs. McElroy is survived by her daughter, Kyle McElroy Dallaire; sons, Michael J. McElroy Sr., Patric M. McElroy, Brian J. McElroy, and Timothy S. McElroy and their spouses; and 15 grandchildren. She was predeceased by her son, Kevin C. McElroy.

A celebration of Mrs. McElroy’s life will be held at her home in Fiddler Bay on Chincoteague Island on Saturday, Aug. 11, 2018, from noon to 3 p.m. If you are in the area, please join us to share stories and taste a few of the recipes for which she was famous. Dress casual and comfy; it’s the beach, after all! In lieu of flowers you are invited to make a contribution in Mrs. McElroy’s name to the Assateague Island Alliance (http://www.assateagueislandalliance.org/index.html#donations).

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