Former W. Hempstead teacher Mary Seery dies

Mary Patricia Seery, 78, of West Hempstead, a former teacher in Syosset and Dallas, died suddenly at home on Saturday morning.

Seery was active at St. Thomas the Apostle Roman Catholic Church in West Hempstead, where she began serving as an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion more than 30 years ago. Her son, Richard J. Seery of West Hempstead, said she later supervised other lay ministers who bring Communion to homebound parishioners.

"This is her legacy," Richard Seery said. "My mother was always going out to people's houses and helping neighbors and taking them shopping."

Mary Seery, whose maiden name was Engelskirger, was born in Brooklyn, then lived in Richmond Hill, Queens, and as a teenager, moved with her family to Hempstead. After college, she moved to Dallas with her husband, Richard A. Seery Jr., later settling in West Hempstead.

She graduated from Mary Louis Academy in Jamaica Estates, Queens, and from St. Joseph College in Brooklyn where she received a bachelor of arts degree in education and was captain of the basketball team.

Mary Seery taught first grade at the Split Rock Elementary School in Syosset and also taught in Dallas, her son said.

After teaching, Mary Seery found another career -- she and her husband founded the Universal Microfilm Corp., which provided microfilm services. She worked as secretary and treasurer before the company was sold in 1998, her son said.

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Summer days often found Mary Seery on the beach in Jamesport where she and her family had a house, Richard Seery said.

She is survived by her husband, her son and four other children -- Eileen Lynch of Centerport, Kathleen Wolff of Floral Park, John Seery of Wantagh and Robert Seery of Manhattan.

Other survivors are her brother, Jack Engelskirger, and 11 grandchildren. Seery was predeceased by her parents.

A wake is scheduled for Tuesday from 2 to 4:30 p.m. and 7 to 9:30 p.m. at the Barnes-Sorrentino Funeral Home in West Hempstead.

There will be a funeral Mass Wednesday at 10 a.m. at St. Thomas the Apostle Roman Catholic Church in West Hempstead with burial to follow at St. Charles Cemetery in Farmingdale.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, using Tribute Number 33090125.