Nanna was born on December 08, 1924 in Jarrow on Tyneside. Her Mother was Anne Isabelle (known as Nancy) Conroy,nee Gray, and her Father was John Conroy. Marie was their third surviving child, a daughter having died in infancy. Her older siblings were Jack born in 1920 and Patricia born in 1922 and a later brother, Kevin was born in 1936. John Conroy,one of 10 children of Galway immigrants, worked in the shipyards as a plater and boiler maker. Grandad Gray was a merchant sailor and his wife was Annie Gray.