Mary S Russell

The youngest of four, she was born in Hamden, Connecticut to Felice and Josephine Sagnella. She enjoyed a childhood surrounded by a close extended family.

Mary fulfilled her childhood dream when she graduated from the Hartford Hospital School of Nursing in 1951. While working as a Registered Nurse, she caught the eye of one her patients, Warren Russell, and eventually agreed to forgo her plans to join the Navy and become his wife. They were married in 1955 and settled in East Hartford to raise their family.

Mary never slowed down. As a young mother, she was an active community volunteer. She was a past president of the East Hartford Women’s Club and loved singing with their choral group. In the late 1970s she returned to school and completed her B.S. in Nursing at Central Connecticut State University. She continued her nursing career until retiring from Hartford Hospital as a Nursing Supervisor and editor of The RxTra.

In 1991 she and Warren moved to Seminole, Florida to be closer to their daughters and welcome their new granddaughter. She jumped into retirement in classic Mary style, filling her life with family, friends, and activities. She played a mean game of tennis until her late 70s, sang with the St. Jerome choir, and was active in the Seminole Women’s Club. Aside from being a grandmother, she was happiest when singing with the Gulf to Bay Chapter of Sweet Adelines International. As a Sweet Adeline she traveled the world, singing in Ireland, Italy, Germany, and China.

Left to honor her memory and remember her love are her daughters Lynn Covert and Sharon Klose, granddaughter Angela Covert, sons-in-law William Covert and John Klose, sister Carmen Sagnella, brother Anthony Sagnella, and many loving nieces, nephews, and cousins. She was preceded in death by Warren, her husband of 41 years, in 1996 and her brother Felice Sagnella in 2009.

Friends are invited to join the family in celebrating her life at Moss Feaster Funeral Home in Largo from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday, January 13. A funeral mass will be held Monday, January 14 at 11 a.m. at St. Jerome Catholic Church in Largo. The family requests that donations be made to the Alzheimer’s Foundation (866-232-8484 or http://www.alzfdn.org/ContributetoAFA/makeadonation.html) or Suncoast Hospice (727-467-7423 or http://www.thehospice.org/Special-Pages/Donate).

Mary was a remarkable woman, filled with the love of life, who touched the lives of so many. We will miss her voice, her spirit, and her song.