Writer, Teacher Mary Ann Callan Dies

Mary Ann Callan, a former women’s editor and news reporter for The Times who most recently was a free-lance writer and who last July wrote poignantly of the cancer she was battling, died Saturday of that disease.

Miss Callan was 64 and died at Pomona Valley Community Hospital.

She joined The Times in 1948 after receiving degrees in journalism and psychology from USC. Named women’s editor in 1952, she became a special feature writer on social issues in 1957 and in 1962 moved to the city room as a news reporter.

She left the paper in 1966 to become a development officer for what was then the newest of the Claremont Colleges, Pitzer, and most recently had been writing and teaching.

In her last article for this paper, published July 1, Miss Callan, a lifelong baseball fan, wrote of the toll that radiation treatments had taken on her body but said she was grateful for the additional months they had given her.

“I’ve made it through the playoffs. But of course I know that the World Series is yet to come. . . . “

She is survived by a sister, Leonore Chamberlin. A memorial service will be held at Kingman Chapel, Claremont United Church of Christ, at 11 a.m. today.