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From his rarefied position, Conway watched Leo become what he called a “den mother” to the justices.

As his stay expanded from weeks to years, he realized he had been taken in by a den mother of sorts.

She fielded everything with the calm humor and gentle decisiveness of a den mother.

The collector and television producer Douglas S. Cramer once described Ms. Corcoran as “sort of a den mother” to the Los Angeles art world.

For Seattle jazz musicians of the late 1940s, Thurlow was not only a respected singer but a hip den mother who made it her business to connect everyone on the scene.