Mary L. (O'Toole) McCarthy, 84, of 80 Salisbury St., Worcester, died peacefully at home after a brief illness on Sunday, June 15th, 2008.

   Born in 1923 in Worcester to John W. and Evelyn J. O'Toole, she was the second of their three children, along with an older sister, Evelyn B. Brunell (1921-1984) and a younger brother, John W. O'Toole, Jr. (1930-1992).

   She attended schools in Worcester and graduated from North High School, where she was a member of the debating team, in 1941. She then briefly enrolled in the nursing program at Worcester City Hospital, but found her interests and talent more suited to court stenography, which she studied at the Ward School of Business Science in Worcester, and then first performed as a Corporal in the United States Army, stationed in their courts martial office in El Paso, Texas. After discharge at the war's end in 1945, she returned to Worcester and began dating Paul V. McCarthy, who also attended North High School, whom she married in 1949, and with whom she had a daughter, Kathleen.

  After a number of years as a homemaker, she was lured back to the challenges and opportunities in the field of court reporting, working for a time as an official reporter in the Superior Court in Hartford, Connecticut, and then in 1960, along with her husband, established a free-lance court reporting agency in Worcester, McCarthy Reporting Service, where she was a full-time reporter as well as an administrator, until her retirement in 1989, as well as an active participant in both the Massachusetts Shorthand Reporters Association and the National Court Reporting Association.

   She and her husband found time in their busy schedule to indulge a shared passion for blackjack, and in later years looked forward eagerly to their semi-annual trips to Las Vegas, until his death in 1994.

   She also loved swimming and traveled with her daughter nearly every winter to the Caribbean to swim and snorkel. In retirement, Mary was finally able to devote time to an equally passionate interest in bridge and for the next decade was a fixture at the Worcester Cavendish Club.

   She enjoyed visiting with her large extended family, the children and grandchildren of her sister, Evelyn, and her nieces and nephews and brother and sisters-in-law on the "McCarthy" side, through her marriage to Paul, and with her former employees at McCarthy reporting, and treasured her Friday outings for lunch and a move with friends, a tradition which she was able to continue until a week before her death.

   Calling hours at the Athy Memorial Home, 111 Lancaster St., Worcester, are Thursday, June 19th from 5 to 8 p.m. A celebration of her life will be held Friday, June 20 at 10:30 a.m. in the Rural Cemetery Chapel, 180 Grove St., Worcester. Burial will be in Worcester County Memorial Park, Paxton.

   In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to a charity of one's choice.