Beloved Irish immigrant, Mary McGroarty, will be inducted posthumously with her son, James, accepting her honors. As a young girl in Ireland, she had an infinity for researching her family’s history. This love of history followed her to Texas where she came to marry her Irish beau, Patrick McGroarty at St. Stanislaus in 1951. Patrick had come to Bandera to work for his family, the Boyles, in their mercantile store. Business success followed the couple as they worked and co-owned M. Boyle Mercantile General Store and later the fame O.S.T. restaurant which Mary ran for 38 years. Mary’s devotion to St. Stanislaus was deep as she prepared the alter with Mary Stein for several decades and through her work in the church’s food pantry. Her love of history came through in her work to help establish the Bandera County Historical Commission with Margie Langford. Mary was instrumental in installing the county’s first historical marker at the old First State Bank on 11th Street in Bandera, a building Mary and Patrick once lived in with their sons, James and Patrick. To highlight Bandera’s other historical buildings, Mary worked with the historical commission to create a city historical marker, choosing which buildings should receive the designation. Always proud of her Irish heritage, Mary was equally as proud of her adopted home and being a true Texan.
