Mary Jane Coy Osborne
Mary Jane Coy Osborne, a former East Hampton resident who was a frequent visitor regardless of where she lived, died on March 30 in San Diego. She was 92 and had been in poor health for over a year.
She was born in New York City on Dec. 13, 1924, to the former Esther McGann and James J. Coy, a detective in the New York City Police Department. After her father retired, the family moved to East Hampton and Mary Jane, then 15, attended East Hampton High School, where she met Jack (Nelson C.) Osborne Jr., who was to be her husband. They were married and divorced twice.
After graduating from high school, Ms. Coy Osborne studied at the University of Vermont in Burlington, although she did not graduate. In 1945, she returned to East Hampton and she and Jack Osborne celebrated their first marriage. One of their daughters was born in November that year, followed by a second daughter in 1949.
In 1952, after the couple’s divorce, she moved with her daughters to Westchester where she worked for the Nestlé Company and Reader’s Digest. She and Mr. Osborne were remarried in 1964, and she returned to East Hampton, where their third daughter was born in 1965. When the marriage once again ended in divorce, she moved back to Westchester, going to work for the New York Medical College in Valhalla, N.Y., for many years.
After her youngest daughter, Stephanie, left for college, she moved to Pelham, N.Y., to be near her daughter Deborah Morgan and her two grandsons. She joined the Pelham Manor Club and became a weekly fixture at its bridge games, where she enjoyed the camaraderie and her fellow players enjoyed her sense of humor and joie de vivre, her family said.
In 2009, she joined her daughter Jacqueline Osborne in California, where she lived until her death. She remained a Yankees fan and continued to devour the sports section of The New York Times.
Regardless of where Ms. Coy Osborne lived, she maintained her friendships with former classmates and friends in East Hampton. She often came here to visit, staying with a brother or sister, who each had weekend residences in the area. While here, her family said, she never missed the opportunity to join a spirited game of bridge at the home of the late Alice Osborne Hamm on Buell Lane in East Hampton Village.
Ms. Coy Osborne is survived by two of her daughters, Stephanie Phillips of Somers Point, N.J., and Jacqueline Osborne of California, as well as two grandsons. Her daughter Deborah Morgan died before her. According to Jamie Coy Wallace of East Hampton, a niece, she was a beloved member of the Coy and Osborne families and will be especially missed by her many nieces and nephews.
A vigil was held and a memorial Mass said at St. Louise De Marillac Catholic Church in El Cajon, Calif., earlier this month. Her ashes are to be brought to East Hampton in the summer and a funeral Mass is to be celebrated at Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church. Donations in her memory have been suggested to Alzheimer’s San Diego, 6632 Convoy Court, San Diego 92111 or to Most Holy Trinity Church, 57 Buell Lane, East Hampton 11937.