Mary Ann Gelsthorpe

2020, following a sunny spring day. Through 97 years of loving family and friends, Mary

Ann hewed true to her warm and generous spirit, with boundless devotion to improving

the lives of children.

Mary Ann MacLaughlin was born in Mt. Kisco, New York on September 6,1922, and

grew up in nearby Pleasantville. She married her high school sweetheart Edward

Gelsthorpe in 1943, and saw him off to World War II as a young naval officer in the

Pacific theater. During Ed’s perilous duty, Mary Ann taught kindergarten by day, and

worked night shifts watching for enemy aircraft during New York metro area blackouts.

A year after her husband’s 1945 return from the Pacific, Mary Ann gave birth to her

first child, Ted. By 1960, she gave birth to three more children, Tom, Seth, and Cyndy.

In time, four grandchildren arrived: Christina, Jennifer, Peter, and Caroline. All eight

in both generations survive her, thanks in no small part to Mary Ann’s devotion to her

extended family. Husband Ed and two of Mary Ann’s three siblings predeceased her,

but her younger brother Harry survives.

In addition to nurturing her own family, Mary Ann ran in-house nursery schools and

volunteered in public schools, with particular attention to children with reading

disabilities or difficult family situations. “She was a lady of her time,” said her daughter Cyndy Gelsthorpe Fish, “And our country was built by strong, determined women who gave their families the stability to

rise."

Mary Ann remained devoted to children all her life, and carried this passion everywhere,

throughout Ed’s business career in New York from the 1940s until 1963, to Cape Cod in

the mid-1960s, to Southern California in the late 60s and early 70s, Boston in the 1970s

and 80s, to their final return to East Dennis from 1985 onward. No experience was

more heartwarming than Mary Ann making an acquaintance with another child.

Alzheimer’s disease eroded her independence, but it never diminished her sterling

character or sunny disposition, nor her enjoyment of the people she loved. Mary Ann’s

smile helped people overcome their troubles, and she never stopped smiling. The

family hopes that everyone who came within Mary Ann’s orbit benefited from knowing

her. She urged us to enjoy every day, and she brought us joy.

Through her life’s many challenges, each day was guided by the Golden Rule. She

helped friends and loved ones thrive. Befitting Mary Ann’s optimism, her favorite

mottoes included: “Never lose your sense of humor,” and, “Every newborn child is the

hope of the world.”

Mary Ann embodied a firm belief that civilizations improve through the dedication

of devoted citizens. Few people who support civilization are memorialized with

monuments or heroic literature. Like many homemakers, wives, sisters, mothers,

grandmothers and teachers, Mary Ann did not court the limelight, yet she enhanced

many children’s lives, and bolstered their noblest efforts.

The family will issue an announcement for a memorial service at a future date, after

current restrictions on public gatherings have been lifted. Further information will be

available at: www.doanebealames.com