Mary Nasca

Mary Angela Ambrose Nasca passed away after a battle with pancreatic cancer on August 11, 2024 at her home in Sun City West, Arizona. Mary was born on March 24, 1951 in Dunkirk, New York to Marguerite Smith Ambrose and Thomas Ambrose. After a loving and happy childhood, she graduated from Cardinal Mindszenty High School and cherished her memories and relationships with her classmates throughout her life. She attended college at St. Mary’s of Notre Dame and SUNY Fredonia, and graduated with honors from Cornell with a degree in Consumer Economics.

Immediately upon graduating, she married her high school sweetheart and beloved, lifelong companion Carl Nasca in 1972. She worked as a successful life insurance saleswoman, and then spent many years establishing households as Carl’s career moved them around the country. Places where she created homes for the family include Troy, NY; Milwaukee, WI; Indianapolis, IN; Akron, OH; Plano, TX; Pittsburgh,PA; Bound Brook, NJ; Roanoke, VA; Düsseldorf, Germany; Lewisville, NC; and Anaheim Hills, CA, until Carl retired and they lived for the last 17 years in Sun City West. She skillfully decorated and improved each home, often hanging wallpaper, painting, and refinishing woodwork herself, and established new social connections in each city. She looked forward to spending summers at her family home on Van Buren Bay in western New York, where she was among family and friends and had a reassuring homebase through the many transitions. She got involved in organizations everywhere she lived, lending her remarkable energy, vision, and leadership to causes as diverse as elementary school carnivals, the American Women’s Club of Düsseldorf, a city-wide school bond campaign, tennis teams, furnishing homeless shelters, bridge groups, and serving as the Grand Marshall of the annual Van Buren Bay Fourth of July Bike Parade. She was a talented 4.0 rated tennis player, competitive bridge player, accomplished seamstress, and skilled at making events more elaborate, fun, and well-organized than anyone expected. She will be remembered by those who knew her for her enthusiasm, energy, warm smile, and the thoughtful care she took in making others feel comfortable and welcome in social situations.

The great work of her life was the love and time she invested in her two daughters, Gina and Laura. She stayed home with them as they grew, caring for them when they were young, and supporting them in their many activities and lessons when they were older. She remained a support to them in their adult years, coming to help them as they established households and families, and was an adoring, involved grandmother.

Mary was a devoted and faithful member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She contributed to her congregations in many capacities over the years, serving as a leader of young women, an early morning seminary teacher, a Sunday School teacher, a leader of the women’s organization, and in quietly ministering to many individuals. She spent countless hours researching her family history, and she was a skilled and meticulous genealogist. Her unwavering faith in Jesus Christ was a strength to her throughout her life, and she looked forward with peaceful anticipation to being reunited with her loved ones, Heavenly Parents, and Savior.

She is survived, missed, and remembered with great love by her husband Carl; daughter Gina (Nephi) Thompson of New Castle, CO; daughter Laura (Joseph) Sarapochillo of Ramona, CA; sister Lynn (David) Holmes of Durham, NH; brother Tom (Nikki) Ambrose of Pittsburgh, PA; and her grandchildren Joseph, Caleb, Isaac, and Benjamin Thompson, and Angelina, Sofia, and Rockwell Sarapochillo.

A Celebration of Life will be held at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 14878 North Verde Vista Drive, Surprise, AZ on Monday, September 9, 2024 at 10:00 am. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the Humanitarian Aid Fund of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (https://tinyurl.com/n6pv8y9z), St. Mary’s Food Bank Alliance (https://tinyurl.com/4mkuv8mr), or Van Buren Bay Association, PO Box 210, Dunkirk, NY 14048.