Obituary of Mary Byrd Campbell

MARY BYRD (CONLAN) CAMPBELL, 87, passed away peacefully at hospice in East Northport, NY on 11 Mar 2025 with members of her family present.  She bravely fought respiratory ailments, including bronchiectasis, throughout her later years.  Mary Byrd will be deeply missed by her immediate and extended family, as well as friends throughout the hemisphere.

Mary Byrd was born on 6 Oct 1937 in Manhattan, NY, the youngest of three children, to John Stanislaus Conlan and Maud Adell (Perkins) Conlan.  They lived together with extended family in the Fordham Heights section of the Bronx, NY.  Mary Byrd graduated in 1955 from St. Barnabas High School in Yonkers, NY before receiving a scholarship to Katherine Gibbs Secretarial School in Manhattan, NY.  During this time, Mary Byrd met the love of her life, James Reed Campbell, then an undergraduate student at Marquette University in Milwaukee, WI.  To be closer to Mary Byrd, James transferred to nearby Fordham University, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in biology.  They would marry on 28 Dec 1957 at Our Lady of Refuge Roman Catholic Church in the Bronx, NY.  Unbeknownst to each other, they had both been daily communicants at their respective parishes and would share their Roman Catholic faith together throughout 67 years of marriage. 

Mary Byrd and James began their family one year after marriage with their oldest son James Jr. born in 1958, followed by their youngest son Richard Byrd born in 1960, and their daughter Mary Cara born in 1969.  As James proceeded with his academic career consisting of two master’s degrees, a Ph.D. in education from New York University, and professorships in the schools of education at the University of Pennsylvania and St. John’s University in Queens, NY, Mary Byrd pursued her own higher education.  She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in comparative literature from the University of Pennsylvania; and then her MBA from St. John’s University.  Mary Byrd managed an apartment building in Manhattan, NY owned by one of her graduate school professors before seven years as an independent contractor managing large training conferences for the corporate human resources department of Citibank N.A.

However, Mary Byrd often stated that her highest and most satisfying calling in life was to be a mother to her three children, and a grandmother to her four grandchildren.

Mary Byrd pursued a wide range of passions with vigor.  But the following activities merit special note:

Mary Byrd and James Sr. shared a lifelong love of travel with their family.  They took full advantage of the dawning of the U.S. interstate highway system in the early 1960s with lengthy road trips in their trusty Chevrolet Impala station wagon.  From 1965-1975, they drove to Florida each year for spring break, camping in Tomoka State Park in Ormond Beach and sunbathing on the flat sands of Daytona Beach.  Mary Bryd was always able to hide the Easter candy from her unsuspecting children.  Mary Byrd and James Sr. also spent these 10 summers driving cross-country to camp, hike and backpack among the national parks of the western United States, plus Canada and Mexico.  One memorable trip during this period involved they’re purchasing a Volkswagen camper bus in the Netherlands; and then flying over to camp, hike and sight-see throughout western Europe.

Mary Byrd and James Sr. maintained this active travel schedule through to the present.  Indeed, the last full year of Mary Byrd’s life saw multi-weeks trips with James Sr. to the U.S. Virgin Islands, plus Sicily, Italy.  Mary Byrd even planned to participate in a curling tournament in Quebec with her son Richard in January 2025, but fears of respiratory difficulties forced a reluctant cancellation.  Nevertheless, Mary Byrd and James Sr. had invested their adult lives in traveling to all 50 United States, plus 57 countries across four continents.  These were individually planned trips to uniquely characterful, non-standard destinations for them to soak up the local cultures they loved experiencing.

Mary Byrd and James Sr. were season ticket holders for St. John’s University men’s basketball for 47 years.  This season, they attended every home game of St. Johns University’s first regular Big East championship in 40 years – up until the two weeks of Mary Byrd’s illness.  Indeed, Mary Byrd’s final evening was spent peacefully with her son Richard watching on television the women’s basketball team from the University of Connecticut.

Mary Byrd and James Sr. also closely followed professional tennis, often watching the entire season together on television.  Mary Byrd and James Sr. made it a point to attend all four “majors,” including the U.S. Open in Queens, NY, the Wimbledon Championships in London, the Roland-Garris French Open in Paris, and the Australian Open in Melbourne.

Mary Byrd always appreciated fine arts, supporting her children James Jr. and Mary Cara to pursue undergraduate degrees in this field from leading universities.  For 10 years, Mary Byrd volunteered at the registration desks of Museum of Modern Art locations in Manhattan and Queens, NY.  She also participated in a monthly book club of fellow volunteers, whom she fondly referred to as “her MoMA ladies.”  Mary Byrd and James Sr. were longtime members of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and made a point in their extensive travels to visit similar museums across the United States, Europe, Southeast Asia, and Australia.  This love of creative arts extended to drama, as Mary Byrd and James Jr. were frequenters of Broadway and Off-Broadway plays and musicals in Manhattan, London and elsewhere.

Mary Byrd greatly enjoyed her lifelong succession of pet dogs, with a particular fondness for pure-breed and mixed-breed German Shepherds.  Every card from Mary Byrd would feature a dog theme.  Mary Byrd only gave up owning dogs after the passing of her beloved Bruno in 2023 because she no longer had the physical strength to manage the larger-sized animals she preferred.  Yet her love for dogs never abated.

Later in life, at the urging of her son Richard, Mary Byrd took up the winter ice sport of curling, participating in “bonspiel” tournaments in Maine and New Hampshire.  Despite being nearly twice the age of her competitors, Mary Byrd enjoyed considerable success, earning the lead striker position from her appreciative teammates.  Mary Byrd was also a popular member of the Long Island Curling Club of Syosset, NY.

Also later in life, at the urging of her son James Jr., Mary Byrd pursued an interest in her own family history.  She became a member of the Society of Mayflower Descendants in the State of New Jersey, qualifying through her Pilgrim ancestors Stephen Hopkins and his daughter Constance (Hopkins) Snow.  Mary Byrd also joined the Cromartie Family Association to honor her maternal third-great-grandfather, William Cromartie, who emigrated in 1758 from South Ronaldsay in the Orkney Islands of Scotland to the Cape Fear region of North Carolina (birthplace of Mary Byrd’s mother), serving in 1783 as a Patriot in the American Revolutionary War.  Weather-permitting, Mary Byrd regularly attended the Cromartie Family Reunion, held in Bladen County, NC during Columbus Day weekend, to connect with previously distant cousins.  Mary Byrd retraced the footsteps of both sets of ancestors with travels to Plymouth, MA and the Orkney Islands, exclaiming of the latter that “it felt like coming home.”

Finally, Mary Byrd remained a daily communicant at Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Roman Catholic Church in Centerport, NY for most of her nearly 50 years there as a parishioner.  Perhaps inspired by her two maternal aunts, both Sisters of Charity, Mary Byrd maintained a lifelong devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  She was an active supporter of Sisters of Life, plus many other Roman Catholic organizations.

Mary Byrd is survived by her husband of 67 years, James Reed Campbell Sr., of Greenlawn, NY; her son James Reed Campbell Jr. and wife Ulana Campbell, of Mount Joy, PA; her son Richard Byrd Campbell and grandchildren Henry Juan Jose Campbell and Maria Noelia Campbell, of Cumberland, ME; her daughter Mary Cara (Campbell) Bates and husband Steven Driehaus Bates, of Cold Spring, NY and grandchildren Theodore Campbell Bates of Arlington, VA and Samuel Whitman Bates, a fine arts student at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA.  Mary Byrd was pre-deceased by her older brothers John Lawrence Conlan Sr. of Wayne, PA and Joseph Vincent Conlan of Manasquan, NJ.  She is also survived by nine nieces and nephews, plus numerous grandnieces and grandnephews.

Memorial services are being held on 14 Mar 2025 from 2:00-4:00 p.m. and 7:00-9:00 p.m. at the M. A. Connell Funeral Home, 934 New York Avenue, Huntington Station, NY 11746.  A funeral Mass will be held on 15 Mar 2025 at 10:00 a.m. at Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Roman Catholic Church, 53 Prospect Road, Centerport, NY 11721, followed by interment at St. Charles / Resurrection Cemeteries, 2015 Wellwood Avenue, Farmingdale, NY 11735.  In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Mary Byrd’s name to the following charities:  Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), North Shore Animal League America, Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and Sisters of Life.