Mary Jean Munro nee McNeil was born in Santa Maria in 1929 to Jeanette and Fred “Fritz” McNeil, whose families homesteaded in Arroyo Grande and Pozo some 50 years earlier. Thus Mary Jean grew up (childhood in Arroyo Grande) with beloved grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins on both sides of Cuesta Grade.
Her father called her “Little Mary Sunshine.” She graduated from SLO High School in 1947. On Leap Year’s Day, 1948, she married Cal Poly agriculture student and US Navy veteran Alexander “Sandy” Munro, who’d fallen in love with the gorgeous green-eyed redhead at a dance.
For the next 64 years, he would call her “Red” and together they’d smoke many dance floors. After college, Sandy managed various small cattle ranches; she had their first son in late 1948, twin boys within the next year, and two years later, another boy.
By the early 1950s, they lived on a ranch in the mountains behind Hearst Castle. The drafty old home had no electricity and lots of termites, yet Mary Jean loved her soaring ocean view, gas-powered washing machine, and miles of clothesline for diapers.
In 1957, she had a baby girl. In 1959, the family moved into Cambria, where Sandy opened Sandy’s Fountain & Grill. It prospered well. Mary Jean worked by his side and made the tiny cafe’s signature pies. Sandy, however, though keeping ties with ranch friends, decided to switch from horses to boats as a sea-going cowboy. They sold the Grill and in 1963, he apprenticed with veteran fishermen and embraced a long, profitable career in commercial fishing, with Mary Jean’s full support. They moved to Morro Bay in 1964.
In 1969, Sandy brought home a young deck hand from Chile who needed an American sponsor so he could attend Cal Poly. The adoption “took” and from that point on, Mary Jean had another son (and Cal Poly a new student). She was a superb cook who always had plenty for big appetites and extra guests. At her huge, crowded dinner table, mealtime conversation and laughter went for hours.
She had many talents. In her life, she worked as a full-time newspaper reporter (The Morro Bay Sun, mid 1960s), a skilled executive secretary for several San Luis businesses, and pursued an English degree from Cal Poly. She and Sandy became international travelers, briefly living in Pago Pago (American Samoa) for a fishing project, and visiting Europe, South America, and China. Upon retirement, they sold their Morro Bay home, bought a fifth-wheel trailer, and spent five years exploring the United States before re-settling in Atascadero, and later Arroyo Grande. Ultimately, Mary Jean came to accept the Central Coast as one of the most beautiful places in the world. Her perspective was tinted by impressions of days long gone as told to her by local old-timers.
Under the name M.J. Munro, she wrote three books, authentic-romantic chronicles of both ranch and fishing lives of the Central Coast’s past inhabitants: “O’Halloran Land” (2001), “Tracks on the Big Sur” (2003), and “Porpoise in Quicksilver” (2015). She died Nov. 15, 2025, three months shy of her 97th birthday, attended by loving friends and family at Casa de Flores in Morro Bay. She was preceded in death by husband Sandy (2012), foster son Jaime Lopez-Balbontin (2016), son James “Jimmy” Munro (2017), and daughter-in-law Kathy (2021). She is survived by sons Tam, Pete, and Don, daughter Jan, son-in-law Steve, daughters-in-law Julie and Rosann, her brother Fred, and many cousins, nephews, nieces, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.
Her memorial will be 2 – 5 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 28, at her cousin’s home at 535 Mehlschau Rd. in Nipomo. Those who knew and loved her, bring food to share if you can and join us in celebrating a life well and fully lived.
