Born Jan. 26, 1935
Boston, Massachusetts
Died May 16, 2024
Lebanon, New Hampshire
Details of services
A visitation will be held Friday, May 24, 2024, at the Knight Funeral Home in Windsor from 4-6pm. A memorial service will be held On Saturday June 15, 2024, at Cedar Hill Community in Windsor at 11am. A private interment will follow in the Ascutney Cemetery in Windsor.
Windsor, VT- Mary Louise Sayles died Thursday, May 16, 2024, at the Jack Byrne Palliative and Hospice Center in Lebanon, NH following a severe stroke. Although she was approaching 90, her passing was still a shock to all who knew her, as she was vital to the end. Mary Louise truly lived the American Dream and left a lasting mark on her community.
Mary Louise was born January 26, 1935, in her parents’ apartment in an Italian enclave in the Roxbury section of Boston, a daughter of Italian immigrants Luigi and Pierina (Seminario) Tomasini. Louisa — the name her family called her — loved reminiscing about her childhood. She was much younger than her sister Julia and brother Raymond, who made sure she was raised speaking English as well as Italian and that she had experiences beyond their Boston neighborhood. She spoke fondly about the extended family gatherings, with aunts, uncles and cousins gathering for a pot of polenta or risotto and some of Luigi’s homemade wine.
Steeped in a love for her Italian heritage, Louisa accompanied her mother on an extended visit to Italy in 1946. She climbed the mountains above the Lakes region, cared for her uncle’s goats, met the extended family, and returned speaking Italian. Her love of Italy and family traditions remained a theme for her and, in her final year, she returned to Italy with her daughters to revisit the places that made such a mark on her in her early years.
After graduating from Girls’ High School in Boston in 1953, she was the first in her family to attend college, studying nursing at Boston College. The nursing school allowed her to pay what she could manage and made up the difference, providing an opportunity that changed her life and launched her career. Through the years, she remained close to her friends from nursing school and loved to tell of bringing her father’s bathtub wine to share with her pals.
In 1957, a summer romance at Weirs Beach in Laconia with a handsome naval officer named James Patrick Horn led to marriage, and the union of their Irish and Italian families. When she learned that her new family had only eaten spaghetti from a can, she introduced them to the joys of authentic Italian food, leading her new brother-in-law to announce, “I want a Louisa.” Her hospitality and love of food and family would be a hallmark of her life.
While Louisa built a career in nursing, she and Jim raised three girls in the Seacoast area of New Hampshire, in various homes that always featured happy (and fat) dogs, great food, and often provided refuge for various family members in need. Theirs were homes with love, laughter, and compassion to spare.
As a nurse, Mary Louise worked in public health and helped start an early family planning clinic. She went on to be a hospital director of nursing and found her true love in caring for the elderly in long term care. She was the first director of nursing at Edgewood Manor in Portsmouth, NH, and became the administrator of that home. She brought her dogs to work with her each day, a move that delighted the residents and reflected the personal care she would bring to people throughout her life.
She never backed down from a righteous fight. In her role as administrator of the Strafford County Nursing Home, her drive to improve the quality of care led to a battle with the board of county administrators, a battle that ultimately was decided in her favor by future Supreme Court Judge David Souter. Her vacations — either at their lake house in Maine or on precious getaways to Bermuda — inevitably included a bag full of professional magazines on the latest in elder care. In her next role as nursing home administrator for Sullivan County, her job expanded to include running a dairy farm and a small jail!
In 1988, after finding herself on her own following a marriage separation, and at a time of life when others were eyeing the exits, Mary Louise took on the greatest challenge of her life, purchasing Cedar Manor, a nursing home in Windsor County, with her partner and friend, Judy Brogren. The nursing home was an 1840s home turned nursing home and needed extensive work. Judy and Mary Louise lived in a trailer that came with the property because they had to pledge all their assets to buy the business. Judy brought her horse and goat to the barn and the place had quite an animal menagerie. They planted flowers and trees and created outdoor spaces for the residents. They painted the walls and hung wallpaper. Cedar Hill became known for its beauty, its welcoming of animals, and, above all, its high quality of care.
Over the next decade, Judy and Mary Louise watched their vision take shape. They expanded the nursing home and, in 1999, opened a 20-apartment assisted living facility, known as The Village at Cedar Hill. The next decade brought more change as Judy retired and Mary Louise’s daughter Patricia joined the business as a nursing home administrator. In 2015, they expanded again, with more residential units and a memory care wing, named for founder Judy Brogren. And, in 2018, they built a solar field that produces around 80% of the energy the campus needs. Cedar Hill stands as a monument to the drive and vision of a woman who put the needs of her residents and community at the forefront of everything she did.
Many will remember Mary Louise for her professional career and her devotion to improving care in nursing homes and assisted living. She twice won awards from the Vermont Health Care Association and was active in the Rotary Club, the American Health Care Association, the American College of HealthCare Administrators, and the Wild Women of Windsor.
The latter part of life included both love and loss. In 2003, Louisa married retired librarian, Jeremy Sayles, at the Barnard Inn, and the two shared a passion for ocean and river cruising and for enjoying a well-ordered home in Barnard, Vermont, and Bradenton, Florida. Jerry embraced Mary’s life’s work at Cedar Hill and loved to stop in for lunch, where the pub was named after him. Mary Louise’s strength was tested when her oldest daughter Maria died of cancer at the age of 44. With Jeremy by her side, she carried on, choosing to focus on the positive and continuing to lead a remarkable life of service to her family, Cedar Hill and her communities.
In addition to Maria, Mary Louise was predeceased by Jeremy, her brother, Raymond Tomasini, and a sister, Julia Casey. She is survived by two daughters, Patricia Ann Horn (Mark Preece) of Windsor, and Cynthia Grant of Staunton, VA; a stepdaughter, Jennifer Harville (David) of Westmoreland, NH; stepson, John Whitman Sayles (Sonya) of Portland, ME; son-in-law, Martin Smith of Burlington, Mass.; grandchildren Dylan (Lindsay), Drew, Benn, Elena, Annie, October, Ezra, Sheridan, and Jacob Calvin; and great-grandchildren Cora and Hailey.
Donations in her memory can be made to the Cedar Hill Activity Fund (which benefits the Cedar Hill and Village residents with music, outings, and other events); the Lucy Mackenzie Humane Society; the Sierra Club; or Our Little Roses Foreign Mission Society, an NGO that supports girls in Honduras.
Knight Funeral Home is honored to be entrusted with arrangements. Condolences may be expressed in an online guestbook found at www.knightfuneralhomes.com.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Mary Louise Sayles.