Mary Fontana Rainsford

Mary was born in Chicago, IL in 1922. She enjoyed life and smiled all the time. She was a caring, energetic, generous, and gentle soul who always had a compliment to give you. She loved traveling, listening to music, and dancing when the band played. Mary was born to Pauline Radostits, an immigrant from Austria. Her father, Frank Fontana, was an immigrant from Italy. At age 18, she married Desmond Rainsford (an Irishman who immigrated at age 8) and had three children within 5 years. Fifteen years later she had two more children. Mary was always focused on the education of her children. All five children graduated from college and became successful: Frank, a banking Senior IT Executive; Beth, a project manager; Shirley, a teacher; and the two youngest children, Katherine and Kevin, medical doctors. At age 65, Mary herself graduated from college with an Associate degree.

Mary loved her job at the Chicago Board of Education in the security department until she retired at age 70 in 1992. She then took on a beloved role as Grandma, helping to raise her youngest daughter’s two young children in La Jolla, CA while Katherine went to medical school. She was well-liked and highly active at their grade school, Torrey Pines Elementary. Mary became the president of the Parent Teacher Association at age 74. After Katherine graduated from medical school, the family moved to Washington, D.C. In 2005, after the grandchildren went off to college, Mary moved to Florida, first to be with her daughter, Shirley, in Lake Mary and then, in 2007, to be with her son, Frank, in Sun City Center. In 2016, she moved back to the D.C. area to live with Katherine in Bethesda, MD. On September 6th, 2020, she passed away peacefully at home, surrounded by family.

She is survived by her 5 children: Frank Rainsford, Beth Rainsford (Julian), Shirley Carr (Bob), Katherine Calvo (Ahmed), and Kevin Rainsford (Astrid). She loved her 9 grandchildren: Marcus, Joshua, Michael, Robbie, Sean, Leah, Kara, Lucia, and Tyler, and her 3 great grandchildren: Hollis, RIV, and Ellia. Just about every year for the past 20 years, her entire family would vacation together as her mantra was ‘You only have one family and you need to love each other’. Her smile, laughter, and love will be sorely missed.

Visitation will be September 18th from 5 PM to 8 PM at Baldwin-Fairchild Oaklawn Chapel in Sanford, FL. Funeral mass will be September 19th at 11 AM at Church of the Nativity in Longwood, FL – watch at nativity.org/livestream. Interment will follow at Glen Haven Memorial Park in Winter Park, FL.