Mary Carroll Norton, a longtime resident of Rye, died on Feb. 19 in Manhattan, where she had resided for the last 15 years, with her children at her side.
The eldest child of Agnes (Brennan) and William Norton, she was born in 1937 in Manhattan. After attending St. Catherine Academy, she graduated from Marymount Manhattan College. She also held two master’s degrees in education from Manhattan College and a doctorate in educational administration from Fordham University.
After teaching primary grades in general education in New York City, she remained at home for 12 years to raise her four children, first in Riverdale, then in Bronxville and Lake Oscawana, and finally Rye.
After returning to the New York City Board of Education as a teacher of special needs students in the Bronx, she had an illustrious career in public education and literacy, as a program coordinator and staff developer, and as an assistant principal in a Bronx junior high school before being named the director of special education at the Harrison School District. After retiring from that position, she served as the interim principal at the F.E. Bellows school in Rye Neck. She ended her career as a senior research associate and director of literacy initiatives at NYU Steinhardt.
She served on the boards of the New York State Reading Association and various private special education schools and was the president of the Manhattan College Reading Council and the Kappa Delta Pi, Mu Sigma Chapter. She was recognized by the New York State Reading Association as Reading Administrator of the Year for her work in developing junior high school literacy programs, and twice received the Celebrate Literacy award from the International Reading Association, among other accolades.
Later in life she bought a boat with her dear friend Anne Gargan and became an avid sailor, hitting all points up and down the Long Island Sound and taking longer trips each year to the Cape and Islands. One of her favorite spots to moor was the City Island Yacht Club.
At the age of 70 she moved back to Manhattan, and spent her summers in Barnstable, Massachusetts and her winters in Eleuthera, the Bahamas, and later on Anna Maria Island in Florida. She was a constant traveler, and visited all seven continents, going to Antarctica in her 60s and on safari in Africa in her 70s.
She was a relentless entertainer, and her holiday celebrations and birthday parties for dozens of family and friends were legendary. There was nothing more important to her than her family and friends, who she doted on and showered with unconditional love.
She was predeceased by her younger sister, and best friend, Helen, and is survived by her children James, Karen, John and Maryann White, her brother William, and dozens of adoring nieces and nephews and grand nieces and nephews.
Donations in Mary Norton’s name can be made to NYU Langone Health.
