LATHAM – Mary Edna (Cassidy) Lynch passed peacefully from this life on Wednesday, December 12, 2018 surrounded by the love of her family. She was 89 years of age.

Born in Watervliet on October 5, 1929, she was the daughter of the late Mary Edna (Law) and John J. Cassidy. Edna grew up in the Port Schuyler section of Watervliet where she attended St. Brigid’s School and then Catholic Central High School. She furthered her education at the College of St. Rose from where she graduated, earning a degree in Education and Spanish studies. Throughout these years she developed friendships that lasted a lifetime and those friends included Peggy, Ruth, Jane, Alice, and Rosemary. It was during that time that she will forever be remembered for taking a cross country road trip with her friends in her dad’s car.

Edna’s early years found her working, with her mother, in the Creamery at Ford’s Dairy in Watervliet and traveling to New York City, with her father, who was an engineer on the D&H Railroad. During that time, she also enjoyed visiting her grandmother at her family’s place of business, Law’s Tavern in Watervliet, where she enjoyed the company of her Uncles Tom and John. In her college years Edna enjoyed going to dances on weekends with her many good friends. Upon graduation from college she was offered a position by the F.B.I. as a Spanish interpreter but instead chose to start her family and teach. Her career in education began in a one room schoolhouse in Rensselaer County. Edna was courted by “the love of her life” and grade school sweetheart; Bud Lynch and they were married in 1953. Together, they raised six children while Edna simultaneously continued with her passion as a reading teacher in the Cohoes City School District where she remained employed until her retirement in 1988. A source of pride for Edna was her passionate advocacy, along with her wonderful and life-long friends Margaret, Pat and Marguerite, for the Title One Reading Program in the Cohoes City School District. During her working years she obtained her Master’s degree in Education from the College of St. Rose.

Edna valued her family and friends, and nothing filled her heart with more love and pride than the time she spent with them. Over the years she hosted many birthday and graduation parties and bridal and baby showers for her children and grandchildren. Attending picnics, swimming competitions, music recitals and other activities were all normal everyday events for Edna. There was never a dull moment in the Lynch home.

Following her retirement, she and Bud went into business together and bought Marino’s Market on Third Avenue in Watervliet. Their business served as an instrument through which they gave back to their community by delivering groceries to those who were unable to get out and do their own shopping. In more recent years Edna’s health slowed her down but she never gave up - she was a fighter. Her departure leaves a large void in the lives of those she loved and in return loved her. The love Edna shared and the memories of a wonderful wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and friend will help to heal the hearts of everyone who will miss her.

The Lynch family extends a heartfelt and sincere thank you to the wonderful staff of the Albany Medical Center ICU who cared for Edna so lovingly; the staff of the Hospice Inn at St. Peter’s Hospital who made her last days so peaceful and Dr. Jeffrey Kennedy, Infectious Disease Specialist at Albany Medical Center for his compassionate and dedicated care.

Edna was the beloved wife, for 65 years, to Lawrence A. “Bud” Lynch; she was the much loved mother of Colleen Lynch Sweetsir and her husband Steven, Christine Lynch Dowd and her husband Jeffrey, Maureen Lynch Newell and her husband Stephen, Pauline Lynch Nasca and her husband Jack, Lawrence Arthur Lynch, Jr., and Thomas Arthur Lynch and his wife Nicole; the cherished grandmother of Dale Sweetsir (Trinh Phan), Mark Sweetsir, Erin Sweetsir (Brad Mills), Seth Sweetsir, Jeffrey Dowd (Kimberly), Jamie Dowd Wolford (Adam), Deanna Dowd Franklin (Daniel), Katie and Dustin Newell, Alyssa, Brian and Nicholas Nasca, Sierra, Cheyenne, and Wyatt Lynch, and Cassidy Lynch; the much adored great-grandmother of Novalee, Charlotte and Jack Mills, Sydney Dowd and Jeffrey Dowd, Jr., Liam and Louis Franklin, and Chloe and Zoe Sweetsir.

A funeral Mass will be celebrated by the Reverend Geoffrey D. Burke on Monday at 10 am in Our Lady of the Assumption Church, 498 Watervliet-Shaker Road, Latham. The Rite of Committal and interment will follow in St. Agnes Cemetery, Menands. Friends are invited to attend and may also visit with Edna’s family on Sunday from 2 until 5 pm at the Bowen & Parker Bros. Funeral Home, 97 Old Loudon Road, Latham.

To those who prefer to remember Edna in a special way, in lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Community Hospice Foundation for the Inn at St. Peter’s Hospital, 310 South Manning Blvd., Albany, NY 12208.

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