Mary Joan Silva

Mary Joan Silva, 56, passed away peacefully at Maine General Medical Center in the loving presence of her family. Her death was the result of complications of dermatomyositis, a disease she has battled since she was 9 years old. Mary Jo was born in Newport, RI to Anthony E. Silva and Patricia (Sullivan) Silva on December 13, 1958. She attended South Portland Schools and graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1981. Mary Jo also received her Master in English from Webster University, St Louis, MO. Her professional life as a teacher took her to many places around the country including Nevada, California, Missouri and Texas. She returned to Maine in 1990 and worked as the director of religious education in Madawaska. When Mary Jo stopped teaching due to declining health she moved to Westbrook and became very active in literacy volunteers. Many of the students she worked with were learning English as a second language. Mary Jo loved the challenge of teaching them and learning about their home countries. Loves of Mary Jos life were books, cats, coffee and outrageous nail polish. She was fervent in her liberal beliefs and worked tirelessly on the use of inclusive language. She developed a very strong faith and relied on it though the joys and the obstacles that life presented. In 2014 Mary Jo moved to Snow Pond Residential Care Center in Sidney, Maine. She received wonderful care at this facility. Her family is very thankful to the entire staff. She is predeceased by her father, and two sisters Jane Elizabeth and Judy Coyne. She is survived by her mother, sisters Carol Holmes of Barnegat, NJ, Connie husband Mickey Gray of South Portland, brother Tony Silva husband Derek McNiff of Boston, MA, and brother in law Eddie Coyne of So. Portland. She was the loving aunt to Courtney Brian Holmes and Emily Matthew Gray. Visiting Hours will be held on Wednesday from 4-7PM in the Conroy-Tully Crawford South Portland Chapel, 1024 Broadway, South Portland. Prayers will be recited on Thursday at 10:15AM in the Funeral Home followed by a Mass of Christian Burial at 11AM in Holy Cross Church, 124 Cottage Rd., South Portland. Burial will be held in Calvary Cemetery, South Portland. To share a memory or online condolence, please visit www.ctcrawford.com. Those who wish may make donations in Mary Jos memory to: Snow Pond RCC Activities Fund, P.O. Box 478 Oakland ME 04963