Mary was born in Flushing on March 29, 1929, to John and May Durcan. She grew up in Flushing
and spent nearly all of her life there. She was a novitiate nun for the Maryknoll Sisters in upstate
NY and Pennsylvania before returning to New York City. She married Edward Burgess on
Sept 1, 1956 and the two lived in Brooklyn for a few years before moving back to Flushing, where
she lived for nearly 60 years. A devoted sister, wife, mother, aunt, grandmother and great-grandmother, Mary also was active as a parishioner of Mary's Nativity Catholic Church. When the opportunity arose for women to join in the celebration of mass as Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion in the early 1970’s, she enthusiastically became one of the first to qualify, and she continued to assist at services
until a few years ago. Mary was also active in the Rosary Society at Mary's Nativity and
served as Treasurer. She was universally loved and loved all in return, she always took
an interest in others and was invested in their happiness.
She is survived by her sons and their wives, Ed and Angelina, Matt and Ginny, Tom and
Jackie, Joe, John and Louise and Daniel. She is also survived by her grandchildren
Steven, Genevieve, Dannie, Lauren, Carolyne, Edward Louis, Nicholas, Sean, Shainna,
Katie, Joseph, Cynthia and Mark, and by her great-grandchildren Eddie,
Ellington, Decatur, Soren, Max and Millie.
She is also survived by her sister Ann and her brother Matt.
She was predeceased by her husband Edward, her daughter-in-law Jennifer, and her
brothers James, John and Thomas.
Service information: Visiting hours on Sunday, January 19th from 2-5 and 7-9 at Quinn-Fogarty Funeral Home at 192-15 Northern Blvd., Flushing, NY. A mass of Christian burial will be held on Monday, January 20th, at 10:45 at Mary’s Nativity/ St. Ann’s Church, 4602 Parsons Blvd., Flushing, NY 11355.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Mary’s name to the following organizations which she treasured:
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