RANGELEY – Mary Monica Sylvanus, 86, of Rangeley, died Friday, Nov. 23, at her home in Rangeley.

She was born on May 20, 1921, in Jamaica, N.Y., the daughter of Howard and Eleanor Killian. She was educated in local schools graduating from Richmond Hill High School in 1939. She received her RN from Mary Immaculate Hospital School of Nursing and in 1943 entered the U.S. Army as a Lieutenant based in Tyndal Field, Fla. Mary was also awarded recognition of 25 years as child and adult in the Girl Scouts of America.

In 1944 she married John Sylvanus. After the war, the couple settled in Amityville, N.Y. where Mary continued nursing. She practiced at all patient levels from obstetrical through the newborn nursery, and it was in the stroke unit at Doctors Hospital, Freeport, that she and her peers achieved union status. A bargaining byproduct was the opportunity to continue her education and at age 50, she received a B.A. in gerontology from Marymount Manhattan College, a fledgling program in that time that offered her 60 units for “life experience.”

She was widowed in 1974, and two years later retired and moved to Rangeley with her daughter and family. Her license plate “GRANDMA,” introduced her to the community. With energy to spare, Mary continued to be involved, serving as part-time school nurse at RLRS for several years, active in the Franklin County Prevention of Blindness initiative, an oft sought panelist on issues of death and dying in the mid 90s, and the original organizer of health related transportation on an informal basis. After several years she turned over her records, which formed the basis for the Rangeley Region Health Appointment Transportation grant that purchased the first RRHAT van.

Her devotion to the Church of the Good Shepherd in Rangeley, its ECW women’s group and the choir, dominated her later years. She was the longest term resident of the townhouse where she lived since 1986, and whose advisory board she served as secretary for many years.

She is survived by two sons, Terence Sylvanus of Springvale and Joseph Sylvanus of Brentwood, N.Y.; two daughters, Jean Rubly Stevenson of Sheridan, Wyo., and Monica Sylvanus of Palo Alton, Calif.; a brother, Howard Killian of East Moline, Ill.; nine grandchildren; and 13 great-grandchildren.