Maureen Kessanis

Maureen “Mo” Kessanis, age 65, of Wayne, passed Sunday, December 6, 2020.

She was born to Stephen and Patricia Buckley in Long Beach, New York.  Maureen was raised in Long Beach and graduated from Stella Maris High School in Rockaway, NY with the Class of 1973. As a young girl Maureen was always pushing the limits while hanging out under the boardwalk or at bonfires at the beach. Her dad, a detective with the NY Police Department, would come down to the beach looking for her and the kids would scramble away saying “here comes Mr. Buckley.”

Maureen continued her education at the Berkeley College in New York where she learned secretarial skills. Her first two jobs were in administration for the Ad Council then the Squibb Corporation both in New York City. Her next career move was as a flight attendant where she earned her wings working for a small charter airline named Sunland. She continued her flight attendant career when she joined Arista Airlines at JFK Airport. She returned to her secretarial roots having worked as the personal assistant to the CEO of the Formica Corporation in Wayne and later again as a personal assistant to the CEO of Atlas Copco in Pine Brook.  Maureen spent the last fifteen years working in the Wayne School System, collimating in the position of Secretary to the Principal at Wayne Valley High School. She retired in September of 2020.

Maureen met her husband George Kessanis while working at Arista Airlines. On his first day at work his boss assigned him a task where he had to organize flight schedules on a large board in the administrative office. As he worked on the board he overheard  three girls behind him giggling. The girls were Maureen, her cousin Mary Pat, and a secretary name Ilene. When George looked over his shoulder and saw Maureen’s face and smile he was sold. Maureen and Mary Pat would often get picked up from their job at JFK Airport by family.  George offered to drive them home as a way to get closer to Maureen.  He would drop both girls off at Mary Pat’s house. One day George was bringing the girls home and suggested they stop for dinner at La Goulet in Atlantic Beach.  When the three of them got back in the car George leaned over, in his gold 1970 Ford Mach 1 Mustang, and kissed Maureen.  Mary Pat screamed! You see Maureen and Mary Pat came from a devoted Irish Catholic family and the public kissing of a Greek was scandalous. Maureen and George fell in love and he proposed marriage at his parents’ home in Wayne during a big party where Maureen’s family was meeting George’s family. They married in a Catholic ceremony on May 3, 1985 at St. Ignatius R.C. church and married again on May 11, 1985 in Athens, Greece. Their connections in the airline industry helped them have an extra special honeymoon.  They flew on a Flying Tigers Cargo 747 to London then Tel Aviv, Israel. George’s dad arranged first class hotel accommodations and tours to the holy land, Jerusalem. They also embarked on a cruise and visited Cyprus, Turkey, and several Greek Islands before finishing in the Port of Alexandria in Egypt, where George’s parents had met.  While in Egypt George showed Maureen where his parents  lived and courted before they were married.  George and Maureen’s marriage was blessed with two children John George and Patricia Anne. There is a family tradition of naming boys John George or George John. The father’s first name is traditionally the middle name given to the child, and the child’s first name is that of his grandfather. This is a tradition that has been ongoing for generations. George and Maureen have had a loving, devoted, and fulfilling marriage of thirty-five years.

Maureen was dedicated to her Catholic Faith and always saying The Rosary.  She was a parishioner of Our Lady of the Valley Church in Wayne where she served as a Eucharistic Minister for several years.

Maureen had a huge personality that would take over a room as soon as she walked in.  She loved to sing, made up songs as she sang, enjoyed dancing, and had a severe addiction to playing Angry Birds.  She was fun, personable, caring, an overly cautious driver, and would admit in a second that her husband was a better cook than she was. Her favorite television shows were Colombo and Murder She Wrote. Her favorite movies were Fargo, Remember the Titans, Sharknado, but her favorite movie of all time was Jaws.  She loved her job at Wayne Valley High School and was always greeted by current and former students anywhere and everywhere she went. Amongst her peers she was known as a prankster and someone who never failed to make you laugh even in the most stressful of work days. Most of all Maureen was proud of her family and will be lovingly remembered as a dedicated wife, mother, and grandmother.

Maureen was the beloved wife of George Kessanis; devoted mother of John George Kessanis and his wife Lisa of Wayne, and Patricia Kessanis and her fiancé Zachary Kozak of Orlando, FL; cherished grandmother of George John “Georgie” Kessanis; loved sister of Stephen “Bookah” Buckley, Christine Fowler and her husband Walter, and James Buckley and his wife Kathy all of Long Beach, NY.

In lieu of flowers please consider a donation to St Jude Children’s Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memorials Processing, Memphis, TN 38105-9959.