Mary McShain (March 27, 1907 – December 2, 1998) was an Irish-American landowner and benefactor.

Biography

Mary McShain was born Mary Horstmann in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

, Pennsylvania on 27 March 1907. Her parents were Ignatius J. Horstmann and his wife Pauline. She was the fifth of six children. She attended St Leonard's Academy, Philadelphia, and

Rosemont College , mottoeng = I will lift my eyes up to the hills , established = 1921 , type = Private college , religious_affiliation = Roman Catholic (Society of the Holy Child Jesus) , president = J ...

, Rosemont. In 1927 she married

John McShain John McShain (December 21, 1896 – September 9, 1989) was a American building contractor known as "The Man Who Built Washington". Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Irish immigrants, McShain graduated from St. Joseph's Preparatory S ...

, building contractor who worked on the reconstruction of the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...

and the building of the

Jefferson memorial The Jefferson Memorial is a presidential memorial built in Washington, D.C. between 1939 and 1943 in honor of Thomas Jefferson, the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence, a central intellectual force behind the A ...

, the Pentagon, and the JFK Centre for the Performing Arts. They were both interested in horse breeding and racing, establishing a stable of racehorses in 1952. They expanded this stable to Ireland in 1955, hiring first

Vincent O'Brien Vincent O'Brien (9 April 1917 – 1 June 2009) was an Irish race horse trainer from Churchtown, County Cork, Ireland. In 2003 he was voted the greatest influence in horse racing history in a worldwide poll hosted by the ''Racing Post''. In ...

and then

John Oxx John M. Oxx (born 14 July 1950) is a retired Irish trainer of thoroughbred racehorses. By the end of the 2009 season Oxx had trained 35 Group One winners over his career, including the winners of 11 Classic races. He is best known as the traine ...

as trainers. Their greatest success was the horse

Ballymoss Ballymoss (1954–1979) was an Irish Thoroughbred racehorse. In a racing career that lasted from 1956 until November 1958, he ran seventeen times and won eight races. In 1957, he became the first horse trained in Ireland to win the St Leger ...

. The McShains moved to Ireland in 1960, buying

Killarney House Killarney House is an Irish country home in Killarney, County Kerry, which was built as a replacement for Kenmare House (1726) as the seat of the Earls of Kenmare. The site was chosen by Queen Victoria on her visit to Ireland in 1861. First K ...

, County Kerry and a large portion of the Kenmare estate. They gave Innisfallen Island and the ruins of an abbey to the Irish state in 1973, bestowing guardianship of Ross Island and its castle to the state. For a nominal fee, they turned over the entire estate to the state in 1979, stipulating a life tenancy of the house and some land, with the rest of the land being incorporated into

Killarney National Park Killarney National Park ( ga, Páirc Náisiúnta Chill Airne), near the town of Killarney, County Kerry, was the first national park in Ireland, created when the Muckross Estate was donated to the Irish Free State in 1932. The park has sinc ...

. McShain was a Dame of Malta and a Lady of the Grand Cross of the Holy Sepulchre. She received the

Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice ''Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice'' ("For Church and Pope" in Latin) is a decoration of the Holy See. It is currently conferred for distinguished service to the Catholic Church by lay people and clergy. History The medal was established by Leo XIII o ...

Cross in 1976. She was awarded two honorary doctorates in 1977, one from LaSalle University, Philadelphia and one from her alma mater, Rosemont College. She died at Killarney House on 2 December 1998. She was buried beside her husband in Holy Cross Cemetery, Philadelphia. Her daughter, Pauline McShain, was a sister of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus. Pauline McShain died on March 8, 2019, due to complications of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McShain, Mary 1907 births 1998 deaths People from Philadelphia American racehorse owners and breeders American Roman Catholics Killarney Owners of Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winners Dames of Malta 20th-century American philanthropists American emigrants to Ireland