Obituary of Mary Jane Sabatini

Mary Jane Sabatini of Rye, NY, beloved wife, sister, mother, and grandmother, passed away on May 24, 2022, at the age of 85. She died peacefully at her home at the Osborn after a short illness, surrounded by her loved ones who will continue to honor her legacy by living their lives to the fullest.

The eldest daughter of Jane (O’Shea) and Eugene Turtle, Mary Jane was born in 1936 in the Bronx, NY, where she lived almost half of her life. Mary Jane graduated from St Helena’s High School and earned a bachelor’s degree from Good Counsel College. She then completed her Master’s degree in Education at Hunter College, beginning her teaching career as a High School teacher in Long Beach, NY,

Mary Jane met William (Bill) Sabatini in the late 1950’s, marrying on August 20, 1960. Together Mary Jane and Bill raised four children, first in the Bronx, and then in Hawthorne, NY. Bill pre-deceased Mary Jane, passing away in 2004 from bile duct cancer.

After the birth of her first child, Mary Jane proudly became a stay at home mom, focusing on providing her children with a wonderfully fun, busy and very memorable childhood. In 1974, Mary Jane and Bill decided to leave the Bronx, and moved to Hawthorne, NY to continue to raise their family. Over her children’s elementary and high school years, Mary Jane loved to play various roles such as: PTA president, swim coach, party organizer and enthusiastic volunteer for just about anything. Once her kids were older, Mary Jane returned to her teaching career, working as a bilingual teacher at Holy Rosary Elementary School for over 10 years.   Mary Jane’s first love and passion (after her family) was for teaching. She had a natural gift for being able to connect with her students, and was able to share her passion for learning with hundreds of children throughout her teaching years. Many of her former students continued to reach out to her over the years and let her know what an impact she had had on their lives.  In the mid 80’s Mary Jane accepted a position as Human Resources Manager at KPMG in New York City.  She flourished in her “second act” career, using her tremendous skills as an educator to provide company culture training for all of KPMG’s new hires worldwide. Mary Jane became so good and well known in her training role, that she was soon enlisted to run KPMG’s Spirit Day on a yearly basis. Finally, at the age of 74, Mary Jane retired from KPMG in 2010 to be able to focus on enjoying life as a grandma. Nothing gave Mary Jane more joy than being able to spend time with her eight grandchildren, whether it was to enjoy a day at the beach, have lunch, watch one of their games or meets, or just hang out for a while. In 2017, Mary Jane moved to The Osborn in Rye, NY where she quickly became a beloved resident. She made many new friends, and enjoyed daily walks and meals with friends, exercise class, and weekly visits to the hairdresser and nail salon.

Mary Jane had an uncanny ability to find happiness in her day to day activities. Her exuberant personality was contagious, and she never met anyone that she did not like. She also had a long and passionate love affair with ice cream and chocolate; and was well known for her trademark bright red lipstick and red nail polish, her animated story telling ability and love for dressing up.     Mary Jane is survived by her four children, Mary Jane (Vinny) Carboni, Carolyn (John) Fay, Billy (Tricia) Sabatini and Bob (Jenn) Sabatini; grandchildren Jack, Matt, Conor and Mary Fay; Jack and Julianna Sabatini, and Christina and Cate Carboni; brothers, Pat and Lawrence, and several nieces and nephews.

Mary Jane’s family will receive friends on Wednesday June 1, 2022 from 4:00 PM until 8:00 pm at the John J. Fox Funeral Home, Inc. 2080 Boston Post Road Larchmont, NY 10538. A funeral mass is scheduled for 11 am on June 2, 2022 at the Church of the Resurrection on Boston Post Road in Rye, NY.

In lieu of flowers, the family would appreciate that any donations in her memory be made to Swim across America-Team Sabatini; an organization that was extremely important to her.