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Mary Bridget Downes died on October 11, 2017. She was 85.
The daughter of Christopher and Dolly (Donovan) Dillon, she grew up in West Harlem with her sisters, Dorothy and Kathleen. The wife of the late Lawrence P. Downes Jr., she was a resident of Flushing, Queens, and a part-time resident of Hampton Bays.
Mrs. Downes received her degree in nursing from Bellevue Nursing School, and undergraduate and graduate degrees from Queens College and Lehman College, CUNY. She was also a graduate of the first class of nurse practitioners through Cornell University and the New York City Department of Health, where she worked for over 25 years in child and adolescent health with her dear friend, Margery Manly.
She was a parishioner of St. Kevin’s Church in Flushing for 60 years, serving as a eucharistic minister, and also attended Mass at the Church of St. Rosalie in Hampton Bays. She gave generously of her time to the Coalition for Women’s Cancers at Southampton Hospital and Lucia’s Angels, along with her friends and family, with whom she also enjoyed sharing the beautiful sunsets over the bay at the Southampton Peconic Beach and Tennis Club.
A kind and generous woman with a warm and beautiful smile, she devoted her life and love to her children, Bridget (John Jordan), Larry, Moira (Doug Sabo), Chris (Sue), Sean (Marianne), Kevin, and Deirdre (Lennart Pehrson); and her grandchildren, Cara, Luke, Grace, Mary, Douglas, Anna, Maggie, Claire, Kathleen, Mollie, Katie, Julia and Maja, all of whom survive her. A funeral Mass was held on October 14 at St. Kevin’s RC Church in Flushing, followed by internment at Sacred Hearts Cemetery in Southampton. Memorial donations may be made to the Southampton Fresh Air Home, 36 Barkers Island Road, Southampton, NY 11968 (www.sfah.org) or Southampton Hospital Foundation (Coalition for Women’s Cancers), 240 Meeting House Lane, Southampton, NY 11968 (www.cwcshh.org).
on Oct 16, 2017