Mary Alice Meagher Arentz, born May 12, 1910, in Salt Lake City, Utah; died at home January 13, 1998, in Laguna Hills, California. Mary
Alice was the beloved mother of Cathy, Sam, Nick and Corey Arentz and Susan Matthies.The eldest child of Katherine T. McDonald and Nicholas J. Meagher, she was raised in Vernal, Utah and completed high school at Saint Mary's of the Wasatch. She studied at Saint Mary's of the Woods in Indiana, George Washington University in Washington, D.C., and graduated from the University of Utah Law School in 1932.
Mary Alice established a law partnership with Virginia and Donna Seare, the first law firm of women in Utah. She practiced law in Utah for eight years before her marriage to Samuel S. Arentz, Jr. on February 5, 1940. They met on a New Year's Eve blind date and for 54 years she shared his adventures as a mining engineer, living in Colorado, Nevada and Utah and traveling to many countries around the world.
Within her community, she was an active member of Pi Beta Phi Alumni Association, The Business and Professional Women's Association, the Catholic Women's League and the Women's Auxiliary of the American Institute of Mining Engineers. She also contributed her services to legal aid, the Murray B. Allen Center for the Blind and many other community efforts. She was well loved for her compassion, kindness and generosity.
Mary Alice was an accomplished pianist and taught her children to play and love music. She was a devoted mother, participating in her children's school activities and filling their lives with her own spirit of adventure, whether on a Wasatch canyon picnic or an alligator hunt on the Amazon.
During the final years of her life in Laguna Hills, she was greatly admired for her radiant smile and uncomplaining disposition, gracing the lives of those around her with her gentleness and courage. She was preceded in death by her sisters, Margaret Price and Katherine Ivers, brother, Nicholas J. Meagher, Jr., and her beloved husband. She will be greatly missed by her children and their spouses, 12 grandchildren, five great-grandchildren, in-laws, nieces, nephews and friends.
A wake service will be held at the Evans & Early Mortuary, 574 E 100 S, on Sunday, January 18 at 7 p.m. and a Funeral Mass will be celebrated at the Cathedral of the Madeline, 331 E South Temple, at 10 a.m. on Monday, January 19. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Travelers Aid Society Family Shelter, 210 S Rio Grande, Salt Lake City, Utah 84101.
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