Mary Jean Tedford

NEW BERN | Mary Jean Newton Tedford, 80, died September 3rd, 2019 peacefully at home, surrounded by her immediate family and a few close friends. She is survived by a brother, Roger Newton of Albany, OR, her two sons, Mark and his wife Julie of New Canaan, CT, and Stephen and his wife Kathryn, of Leonardtown, MD, a niece, Judy Muessel of Austin, TX and five granddaughters.

Mary Jean Newton was born to Dr. Roger and Mary Elizabeth Newton in Sheffield, AL on August 7th, 1939. She was the middle of three children, having an older sister, Florence, and a younger brother, Roger Jr. Her father, a Yale educated chemical engineer, moved the family to Philadelphia when Mary Jean was quite young and then to Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, when he accepted an ex-patriot assignment to build chemical plants there.

Mary Jean started formal education at the American school in Rio and began a life-long love of languages, learning basic Portuguese from other local children. Toward the end of elementary school, the family moved to Winchester, MA where she completed her secondary education, graduating from high school in 1957. In addition to math and science, she studied Latin and French and was a member of the tumbling team that performed at football games. Her introduction to sailing came when the family joined the Winchester Boat Club and Mary Jean learned to sail small boats on Upper Mystic Lake. She was also an accomplished figure skater, having practiced regularly as a member of the Boston Skating Club. After high school, Mary Jean attended Randolph Macon Woman’s College in Lynchburg, VA. There she was a member of Phi Mu sorority and earned a BS in Chemistry, graduating in 1961. Upon graduation, Mary Jean accepted a position at Sloan Kettering Memorial Hospital doing blood chemistry analysis.

Mary Jean met the love of her life, Walter Tedford, in 1963. As the story was told, Mary Jean’s sister was a TWA flight attendant, working the same flight as a stewardess Walter was dating. Walter met Florence’s future husband while the two bachelors were awaiting the same inbound flight at JFK. Walter’s future brother-in-law mentioned that Florence had a cute younger sister named Mary Jean. Mary Jean and Walter were set up on a blind date by her sister and future husband shortly thereafter. Mary Jean and “Walt”, as he came to be known, where married on May 9th, 1964.

Though she enjoyed living in Manhattan after college, Mary Jean moved to a Cape Cod house in Huntington, NY on the north shore of Long Island. Her family expanded with the births of their two sons, Mark in 1966 and Stephen in 1968. She raised her two boys there as well as a Collie/Beagle mix dog named Toto for the next 15 years. Mary Jean was a cub scout den leader, a youth soccer mom and a PTA volunteer. In addition to raising a family, sailing would become a major area of focus in Mary Jean’s life. Walt built their first sailboat, a 35’ ketch named “Excalibur”, and they sailed up and down the New England coastline from the Centerport Yacht Club to York, Maine and many ports in between. As her boys were approaching high school, Mary Jean returned to academia, earning a Master of Science in Secondary Education from C.W. Post University.

In 1979, Mary Jean and Walt accepted an ex-pat assignment with his company and moved the family to a small hamlet called Walton-on-Thames, 40 minutes south west of London, England. While the family only lived there two and half years, Mary Jean was deeply engaged in her boy’s academic and athletic pursuits and served as the International Travel Director of the American Wives Club of Surrey. During their time in England, the Mary Jean visited eight additional European countries and plied the waters of the English Channel sailing Excalibur from the Isle of Wight, before moving back to Huntington, NY in 1981. While her boys were completing high school and going off to college, Mary Jean utilized her advanced degree working as a substitute science teacher at Commack North High School. She loved learning, teaching and children; a perfect combination for a high school teacher.

Upon Walt’s retirement in 1987, he and Mary Jean moved to New Bern, NC, that would become their final home for more than 30 years. She and Walt joined the Fairfield Harbor Yacht Club soon after their arrival and upgraded their boat to a Whitby 42, appropriately named “Camelot”. They made annual passages down the Intracoastal Waterway to southern Florida and all the way to Georgetown, Bahamas. Mary Jean earned her HAM radio operator’s license in order to be able to communicate with other seaborne travelers. She was a very capable crew member and a calming influence for others onboard.

In New Bern, Mary Jean pursued a number of activities to support important causes and those in the local community. Having recently become a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, she became quite active in the local Richard Dobbs Spaight Chapter and attended state-wide conferences in Raleigh. Mary Jean was very involved in the First Presbyterian Church of New Bern, having served as a Deacon, participated in small group circles, attended bible study and volunteered in the church office on Fridays. She supported the local Craven County district polling station during national elections, volunteered as a literacy counselor, helping women in the local community to learn to read, speak and write English more fluently and played in a ladies 9-hole golf league.

Mary Jean was an energetic and engaging person who made the most out of every situation in which she found herself. She was the silver lining in any cloud and always made those around her feel welcomed and included. Mary Jean had a thirst for knowledge and a zest for life that was exemplary to all whom she would meet. She was married to Walt for 55 year, raised two proud sons and 5 beautiful granddaughters who are now in high school and college. She also developed many deep and long-lasting relationships with friends from college, young adulthood, child raising, yacht club activities, cruising friends and her local community and church in New Bern.

A memorial service for Mary Jean will be held at the First Presbyterian Church of New Bern, 400 New Street, on Saturday September 28th, 2014 at 1 p.m. with the Reverend Lloyd Griffith presiding. The family will meet with friends at a church reception immediately following the service in the Session House.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations can be made to the Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance, P.O. Box 32141, New York, NY 10087-2141 (212-268-1002), (https://give.ocrahope.org/maryjeantedford) or to the First Presbyterian Church of New Bern at First Presbyterian Church Foundation, P.O. Box 1069, New Bern, NC 28563 (252-637-3270).