Mary Ann Dowling

Mary Ann Dowling, age 80 of Wayne, died peacefully at home on Saturday, Nov. 7, 2020 with her family gathered at her bedside.  She has lived in Wayne for twenty-eight years.

Mary Ann grew up in Paterson, born the fourth of six girls in her family. At Central High School, Mary Ann was in the Drum and Bugle Corps.  Her sisters were her lifelong best friends. While in high school, Mary Ann fell in love with Ronald Dowling, whose family owned the neighborhood delicatessen. They married as teenagers and first lived in Paterson and Saddle Brook before establishing their family home in N. Haledon. Mary Ann helped her husband running his business, “Quality Dairy,” as a milkman. She did the bookkeeping while he did the deliveries. It was probably around this time that she developed her lifelong love of milk, and she truly appreciated a tall glass of quality milk. In 1971, Mary Ann and Ron ventured into the restaurant business, purchasing the Eagles Nest in N. Haledon. Ironically, they had no restaurant experience at all, but Mary Ann became the cook! They successfully ran the restaurant until 1981. Not long after, Ron passed away suddenly, and Mary Ann became a widow at just forty-seven years old. She went to work full-time at Purex in Hawthorne, and she also worked as a mortgage specialist with a few area banks. She eventually retired and moved to Wayne, taking on the role of full-time grandmother!

Mary Ann grew up in a tight-knit family and that carried over to her own family with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. “Nana,” as she was affectionately called by them all, loved spending time with each of them, and she was very involved in their lives. Her grandchildren recall how much she enjoyed going to IHOP, the Hot Grill, and Patty’s Pancakes.  Family was simply her greatest joy.  Mary Ann was also extremely artistic and very talented as a seamstress, sketch artist, painter, ceramics crafter, and all sorts of things.  Her seamstress work was nothing short of amazing, and no garment was complete unless is was flawlessly perfect.  She handcrafted a magnificent Christening gown that has endured for over thirty-six years, used by more than twenty babies in the family.  She’s made First Communion dresses for her granddaughters, as well as countless garments for dolls – all of them perfect.  She took great pride in her gift wrapping as well. If you ever received a gift from her, you were reluctant to unwrap it because you could see how much love and care she had put into wrapping it.  She even tied her bows by hand, and each “Nana bow” was special and unique with a consideration for the people she made them for.  Easter baskets were among one of her favorite things to create. They turned out better than anything you would find in a store, each one more beautiful than the last, overflowing with love. The love that she shared with her family is a gift to them all that will endure forever.

Mary Ann is survived by four children; Kathleen Peragallo and her husband John of Wayne, Donald Dowling and his wife Tricia of N. Caldwell, Julia Paulison and her husband Ronald of Wanaque, and Elizabeth Murray and her husband Craig of Westfield, Indiana, one sister; Jane Salmanowitz, fourteen grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren, and her daughter-in-law; Kathleen Dowling of San Diego, California.  Mary Ann was predeceased by her husband Ronald in 1987, and by two sons; Charles in 2014 and Ronald, Jr. in 1995.

Friends wishing to make a donation in Mary Ann’s memory are asked to consider St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memorial Processing, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105-9959, www.stjude.org.