Mary Carroll (Hayes) Johansen died from complications of Alzheimer’s disease on December 26, 2020. Her family is very grateful to her caregivers, especially Maureen (Mo), Ann, and Margaret, for their devoted care.

Mary Johansen was born in Jersey City, NJ, in August1927, to Carroll and Mary Hayes. Mary was the third of four children, after her brother Carroll and sister Eugenia (Gene); she also had a younger sister, Elizabeth.

Mary was baptized at All Saints Roman Catholic Church in Manhattan before the family moved to Bronxville for 5 years. When Mary was near the end of second grade, the family moved to Manhattan, because her father had been appointed a municipal court judge; she would live there until her marriage. The Hayeses also rented summer homes and owned a home in Spring Lake, New Jersey. They always had a busy house crammed with people thanks to their mother and father’s generosity. They were very fortunate and they knew it and loved it.

Mary went to public school, P.S. 6, and then to 91st St Convent of the Sacred Heart, where Gene had gone and where Liz would follow, for high school. It was a very strict school, but she was a good student, worked hard and enjoyed it all. She also made many close friends at the school. In 1944, after graduating from 91st St., Mary, and most of her close friends, attended Manhattanville College, in Manhattan. Mary majored in history and minored in Spanish, sang in the Glee Club, and worked in the registrar’s office because she had won a scholarship to the college.

Mary graduated from college in 1948 and, after taking the summer off and staying in Spring Lake, worked as a representative for the telephone company. She stayed nearly four years, then left to work for North American Reassurance in the personnel office, where she interviewed and tested candidates for employment. In 1953 she began to take classes at Teacher’s College, Columbia University; she earned her MA in 1955, and by the fall of 1956 was teaching full-time at P.S. 183 at East 66th St., Manhattan; she taught first and second grades, and then became the reading teacher for 7th and 8th grade students who needed special help. Everything about her work pleased her.

Mary was vivacious and fun-loving, with a great sense of humor, a beautiful smile, and a ready laugh. She had many circles of lifelong friends, from high school and college, from the St. Paul’s Guild and the Jersey shore, from work and through her sister Liz. She enjoyed playing bridge at home, but even more she enjoyed going out to the opera and the theater, and to nightclubs. She would end her Saturday nights early on Sunday mornings at the Printer’s Mass at St. Malachy’s to fulfill her Sunday obligation. 

On December 19, 1962, Mary Hayes met Robert Joseph Johansen at a Catholic Alumni Club dinner in Greenwich Village.  Mary felt immediately comfortable with him and soon decided to marry him. For Bob, it had been love at first sight; he had told his parents the night he had met her that she was the girl he would marry, and he was impressed that she had known what an actuary was, thanks to her time at North American Re. They were married at St. Ignatius Loyola Church in Manhattan on June 27, 1964.

After a honeymoon in Bermuda, Mary moved to Bob’s home in Yonkers, NY, where she became immersed in the house, enjoyed the company of her neighbors, and soon had three children. After Mary’s children were enrolled in school at St. Margaret of Cortona, she began to volunteer at the school library, which she enjoyed and where she continued to volunteer for about 25 years. Like her husband Bob, Mary was a person of great faith, and was a member of the St. Margaret’s choir for almost 30 years; she was also a member of the Ladies of Charity.

Mary continued to enjoy spending time with her friends and her family, travelling, enjoying the cultural offerings of New York City, and spending winters in Florida.

Mary Johansen was predeceased by her husband Bob in 2014, and by her parents, siblings and in-laws, and her grand-nephew Connor Dooley. She is survived by her daughter Mary Carroll; her son Rob, his wife Karlam, and their children Caitlin, Kelly, Christine, and Kevin; and her son David, his wife Chrisanne, and their children William, Caroline, and James, and by many nieces and nephews, cousins and friends who will miss her very much.

Reposing Thursday, December 31st from 8:30am - 10:30am at Riverdale-on-Hudson Funeral Home, 6110 Riverdale Ave, Bronx NY.

Mass of Christian Burial at St. Margaret of Cortona, Bronx, NY, on Thursday December 31st at 10:30 am followed by burial at St. Mary’s Cemetery, Yonkers. Facial coverings are required and adherence to social distancing will be in effect.

In lieu of flowers, please send contributions to Catholic Charities, the Inner-City Scholarship Fund, the Alzheimer’s Foundation, or Encore Community Services.