Longtime Enfield School Secretary Passes Away

ENFIELD, CT — Mary Ivanisin, a secretary at the John F. Kennedy Middle School for over 20 years and a generous supporter of the Enfield Police Department's Toys For Joy drive for more than three decades, passed away Wednesday. She was 90.

Ivanisin's determination to continue collecting toys for the annual holiday drive, despite a diagnosis of Lewy body dementia which prompted her move into a Windsor Locks nursing home, earned her a feature story on Patch just three months ago.

She worked as the Blue House secretary at the middle school for 21 years, retiring in 1994. Following her retirement, she increased her dedication to the toy drive, which she first aided shortly following the passing of her husband John in 1988.

On the first Saturday of December, Ivanisin and friends would gather for a potluck dinner, where every attendee brought a dish.

"We said we don't need gifts, why don't we each bring a toy," she said.

For 30 years, Ivanisin and company would make their annual donations, though the group got smaller each year due to passings and the frailty of age.

Following her move to the Bickford Health Care Center in Windsor Locks last August, her effort to continue to collect toys for needy children was wholeheartedly supported by the center's administration and staff.

A pair of Enfield police officers came to the nursing home with a truck in December to pick up the latest donations from Ivanisin and company.

Ivanisin is survived by a son, a daughter, seven grandchildren, five great-grandchildren and two sisters.

Calling hours will be from 1-4 p.m. Sunday, March 31 at Leete-Stevens Enfield Chapels, 61 South Rd., Enfield. Family and friends will gather at 9 a.m. Monday, April 1 at the funeral home for a procession to Holy Family Church, 23 Simon Rd., Enfield, for a 10 a.m. Mass of Christian Burial. Committal will follow at St. Catherine's Cemetery in Broad Brook.

Read the full obituary for Mary Ivanisin here.

(Photo courtesy of Enfield Historical Society via archive.org)