The acknowledged matriarch of a large extended family ranging from coast to coast, she passed in peace and attended by family. Mary Alice was born to Margaret and Edward Baugh in Omaha, Nebraska in June 1921, the oldest of seven children. The family eventually moved to the Cleveland, Ohio area where she spent her formative years attending local Catholic schools. During the war, she met Albert Buckley (‘Buck’), a junior Navy officer from Yonkers, New York while he was on leave with a friend who lived in the Cleveland area. Mary Alice and Buck were introduced on a blind date. That chance meeting eventually led to their marriage in 1945 and to setting up home life in Yonkers. Over the years, Mary Alice and Buck welcomed seven children. Raising their family in Yonkers, Mary Alice was a parishioner at Sacred Heart Monastery for decades. She also spent many years poolside at the Amackassin Club where she and Buck met many of their local friends. Those were classic days of weekend tennis, dips in the pool, and dinner dances. For her children, these were the years of our childhood memories when we all went to school, to work, on the annual family vacation to Long Beach Island, NJ, and eventually to leave home pursuing our own adult lives. For Mary Alice and Buck, the empty nest was the start of an incredibly fun new adventure. When Buck retired from the Port Authority of NY and NJ in the 1980s, they became winter snowbirds in Alva, Florida where several of Mary Alice’s siblings also had retirement homes. For another few decades they had loads of laughs and sunny days. Nieces, nephews and cousins from across the country visited their parents at the Alva community helping to form new family bonds among the next generation of 42 first cousins. One never knew who was going to be in Alva during a family visit. It was a time of wonderful memories. After Buck passed in 2005, Mary Alice continued to divide her time in Alva in the cooler months and up north in the summer, enjoying extended stays in Gloucester, MA and in the Adirondack mountains in NY. When, at age 95, she needed daily care, she returned north permanently. For the last four years of her life, Mary Alice was cared for with the greatest love and attention in the home of her daughter, Kathleen Winfield and son-in-law, Don in the Adirondacks. Her daughter, Missy Buckley Schuyler, was also with her daily in the final five months of her life. It cannot be underestimated how much her final years were good ones thanks to the unselfish and excellent care she received during that time. For a time, we would joke that Mom was ‘reverse aging’ as she settled into her cozy northern nest. Mary Alice is now at peace with Buck and with two of her sons who predeceased her, Robert and Richard Buckley, and grandson Ted Winfield. She is remembered with love by her daughters Patricia (Wally King), Kathleen (Don Winfield), Missy, and Alice (Jerry McCarthy) and her son, AJ (Gavin Masterson). She is also Grandma to Matthew Winfield, John Ryan (Kira), Dan Ryan (Charlene), Carolyn Mahoney (Kevin), Sarah Schuyler (Anat), Andrew Schuyler, and Katie and Brendan McCarthy. And let’s not forget the youngest family members, the great-grandchildren; Jacob and Susannah Winfield, Emilia, Carter and Charlotte Ryan, Reed and Morgan Ryan, and Ellie Mahoney. Also surviving her are sister Kathleen Gleason of Dallas, Texas, brother, Fr. David Baugh of Alva, Florida and Wickliffe, Ohio, and many nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her sister Peggy Gaffney and her brothers Jack, Richard, and Edward Baugh. A wake will be held on Monday January 13, 9:30-10:30 AM at Whalen & Ball Funeral Home in Yonkers, NY followed by a Funeral Mass at Sacred Heart Monastery at 11AM. Interment will be at St. Joseph Cemetery following Mass. In lieu of flowers, any remembrance may be made with great appreciation to Untermyer Gardens Conservancy for a memorial bench in honor of Albert and Mary Alice Buckley. Donations can be addressed and mailed to: Cathy Michelsen, Development Officer, Untermyer Gardens Conservancy, 945 N. Broadway, Yonkers, NY 10701 ATTN: Buckley Memorial.
Whalen & Ball funeral Home
168 Park Ave.
Yonkers, N.Y. 10703
(914)965-5488
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