Mary J. “Jane” Blair

Mary J. “Jane” Blair, age 96, of Wayne, passed Saturday, June 25, 2022.

She was born in Akron, Ohio to Henry and Lila Gill. Jane was raised in Orwell, OH and Burton, OH where she graduated from Burton High School with the Class of 1943.

Just out of high school Jane worked for the Illinois Central Railroad as a secretary in their Terminal Tower building in downtown Cleveland.  Just next door was the Southern Railway offices where a young man named John Blair worked.

It was through a mutual friend, whom they stayed in contact with for many years, Jane met her future husband, John Blair.  They dated for a short while and married on September 30, 1945, in the living room of Jane’s parents’ home in Burton, OH. The “Wedding March” was to be played from a record on a Victrola Phonograph and someone broke the record before it was played. Jane’s dad, after a frantic search, found another copy of the Wedding March.  Jane saved the broken record, and the family still has the Victrola Record player their wedding march was played on. Jane and John have lived in New York City, Cleveland, OH, Boston, MA, and Pittsburgh, PA before settling into Wayne, NJ in 1966 where they have lived since. They had a loving and devoted marriage of fifty-nine years that has been blessed with three children and one granddaughter.

Jane was dedicated to her Christian faith and through the years she has been active in the local churches in the towns where they lived.  She has been a longtime member of the United Methodist Church of Wayne where she has been active with countless committees and groups within the church including the Grieves Memorial Garden.  Jane was not only dedicated to her church but also gave back to the community belonging to the Order of the Eastern Star where she served a term as Worthy Matron and donated her time and talents.

Jane will be lovingly remembered for being direct, loving, adventurous, energetic, caring, and a warm presence wherever she went. She dedicated her life to caring and loving her children as well as her husband John who she cared for during an extended illness. He lovingly called her “his Angel.”  Her adventurous side is exemplified by her taking a trip to Alaska and a helicopter ride so she could walk on a glacier. She also joined “The Y” while in her 80’s.

Jane was the loving wife of the late John Blair (d.2004); devoted mother of Kenneth Blair and his wife Lillian of Rockaway Boro, Bonnie Gray of Garrettsville, OH, and Deborah Sparks and her husband Patrick of Pompton Plains; she was the grandmother of Jennifer Gray; devoted sister of JoAnn Podany of Chardon, OH, and the late Betty Hosmer, Richard Gill, and Bobby Gill.

In lieu of flowers, the family request donations be made to the: United Methodist Church, 99 Parish Drive, Wayne, NJ 07470 or the Alpha 1 Foundation by visiting www.alpha1.org/donate or by mail to: Alpha1 Foundation, 3300 Ponce de Leon Blvd. Coral Gables, FL 33134. Alpha 1 Antitrypsin is a genetic condition that may result in serious lung disease in adults and/or liver disease at any age.