Obituaries

Mary T. Avlon

Mary T. Avlon

Mary T. Avlon of Greenport died Aug. 7 at the age of 92.

She was born Aug. 25, 1918, in New York City to Anna and Michael Chemeris, and spent much of her childhood at St. Agatha’s Home for Children in Nanuet, N.Y. She graduated from Cathedral High School in Manhattan, where she studied French, German and Russian literature.

She married George Avlon in 1944 and was a baby nurse, working several jobs to pay for her education. She earned a B.A. from St. John’s University in Oakdale and, in 1950, received a Masters of Library Science from Columbia University in New York City. She went to Nuremberg, Germany, in 1951 as a civilian librarian for the U.S. government, working with children and service personnel. After returning home, she worked as a children’s reference librarian in various locations in New York State and was senior medical librarian at the Pilgrim Psychiatric Center in West Brentwood, N.Y., until her retirement in 1989.

Ms. Avlon lived with her second husband, artist and fabric designer Werner Kaufmann, in New Hyde Park, N.Y., from 1973 to 1977.

She loved art, music and opera, and enjoyed nature, according to family members. She traveled to northern Canada to see polar bears and always had several bird feeders outside her windows, they said.

Ms. Avlon is survived by three nieces.

Arrangements were handled by Horton-Mathie Funeral Home in Greenport. Interment will take place at Most Holy Trinity Cemetery in Middle Village, N.Y.