Mary Elizabeth Hartnett

January 24, 1952 - April 23, 2022

Buffie was born in Downey in 1952 to Mary Elizabeth Chambers and Redmond Chambers. Buffie developed a great love of music in early childhood, which led her to study music and to become a vocalist as a young adult. After a free-spirited youth, Buffie completed a degree in psychology at Cal State Fullerton, where she met her husband, Thomas Hartnett, a geologist. Tom and Buffie married in 1985 and settled down in Hollydale, where they had two sons, Conor (1986) and Brendan (1989).

After Tom’s death in 1992, Buffie raised her sons alone. She shared with her sons, and everyone around her, her love of knowledge, music, and literature, and her great curiosity about the world around her. An engaging conversationalist, Buffie enjoyed telling stories from her eventful youth and young adulthood to family, friends, and neighbors, and she was a source of endless humor, love, and support for those around her.

Buffie continued to live in Hollydale until the end of her life, although she frequently traveled to New Jersey to visit her son Brendan and his family. She took great pride in the successes of her sons, who became a human rights lawyer and an opera director. In her final years, Buffie remained physically and mentally healthy, and enjoyed crossword puzzles, sudoku, and reconnecting with childhood friends over the Internet.

She died suddenly, of natural causes, while visiting family. She will be remembered for her wit, her musical talent, and her great kindness. She is survived by her sons, her grandson, Owen, her sisters, Kathleen and Wendy, and her brother, Jack.