Mary Isabell Foxwell, 83, passed on Saturday, July 24th 2021, surrounded by her daughters and grandchildren. Family further away, spoke loving words to her over “technology she will never get.”
Mary was born January 30 1939, to Edward and Anne Manley of McKeesport, PA. Mary had two siblings: twin brother Edward and younger brother Steve (deceased). She is also survived by her two daughters, Katie and Megan her son Michael, and nine grandchildren. Her eldest son Timothy passed away in 2016.
Mary’s family settled in Yardley, PA where she met her best life-long friend Lynn. Mary studied education at Marywood College while teaching swimming and serving as captain of the water ballet team. She spent summers working on the Jersey Shore in hotel work-stays at Spring Lake’s Essex and Sussex – where culinarily Mary thrived, persuading chefs to donate leftover lobsters and conducting late night seminars to fellow waitresses in the art of using the heel of a work shoe as a seafood mallet. The shore is where she met her first husband and father of her four children, James Bell – who later became a judge in Cranford, NJ. Mary remarried John Foxwell and moved to Columbia, MD.
Mary balanced raising a family with her professional passions of educating those with learning disabilities, teaching students, and training new teachers in the field. Mary worked at Kean College, Orange Avenue School in Cranford and spending her longest tenure as Coordinator /Learning Disabilities Consultant for The Villa Maria School in Baltimore MD.
A highlight of her career was collaborating with John Hopkins researchers on the development of new education methods for children suffering with alcohol fetal syndrome .
Mary was quiet, witty, and strong – a New York Times crossword puzzle afficionado and capable tennis opponent. Mother, grandmother, wife, sister, and friend – Mary’s love leaves us with indelible lessons. Mary will be dearly missed.
Visitation will be held on Wednesday, July 28, 2021 from 4 to 8 PM at Higgins and Bonner Echo Lake Funeral Home, 582 Springfield Ave., Westfield. A funeral service will be held at 7:30 PM.
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