2020, following a sunny spring day. Through 97 years of loving family and friends, Mary
Ann hewed true to her warm and generous spirit, with boundless devotion to improving
the lives of children.
Mary Ann MacLaughlin was born in Mt. Kisco, New York on September 6,1922, and
grew up in nearby Pleasantville. She married her high school sweetheart Edward
Gelsthorpe in 1943, and saw him off to World War II as a young naval officer in the
Pacific theater. During Ed’s perilous duty, Mary Ann taught kindergarten by day, and
worked night shifts watching for enemy aircraft during New York metro area blackouts.
A year after her husband’s 1945 return from the Pacific, Mary Ann gave birth to her
first child, Ted. By 1960, she gave birth to three more children, Tom, Seth, and Cyndy.
In time, four grandchildren arrived: Christina, Jennifer, Peter, and Caroline. All eight
in both generations survive her, thanks in no small part to Mary Ann’s devotion to her
extended family. Husband Ed and two of Mary Ann’s three siblings predeceased her,
but her younger brother Harry survives.
In addition to nurturing her own family, Mary Ann ran in-house nursery schools and
volunteered in public schools, with particular attention to children with reading
disabilities or difficult family situations. “She was a lady of her time,” said her daughter Cyndy Gelsthorpe Fish, “And our country was built by strong, determined women who gave their families the stability to
rise."
Mary Ann remained devoted to children all her life, and carried this passion everywhere,
throughout Ed’s business career in New York from the 1940s until 1963, to Cape Cod in
the mid-1960s, to Southern California in the late 60s and early 70s, Boston in the 1970s
and 80s, to their final return to East Dennis from 1985 onward. No experience was
more heartwarming than Mary Ann making an acquaintance with another child.
Alzheimer’s disease eroded her independence, but it never diminished her sterling
character or sunny disposition, nor her enjoyment of the people she loved. Mary Ann’s
smile helped people overcome their troubles, and she never stopped smiling. The
family hopes that everyone who came within Mary Ann’s orbit benefited from knowing
her. She urged us to enjoy every day, and she brought us joy.
Through her life’s many challenges, each day was guided by the Golden Rule. She
helped friends and loved ones thrive. Befitting Mary Ann’s optimism, her favorite
mottoes included: “Never lose your sense of humor,” and, “Every newborn child is the
hope of the world.”
Mary Ann embodied a firm belief that civilizations improve through the dedication
of devoted citizens. Few people who support civilization are memorialized with
monuments or heroic literature. Like many homemakers, wives, sisters, mothers,
grandmothers and teachers, Mary Ann did not court the limelight, yet she enhanced
many children’s lives, and bolstered their noblest efforts.
The family will issue an announcement for a memorial service at a future date, after
current restrictions on public gatherings have been lifted. Further information will be
available at: www.doanebealames.com
COMPARTA UN OBITUARIO
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