Mary (Leone) Funke Kaminski passed away on September 26, 2026. She was 90 years old. She is survived by her husband, Edward; her brothers, Donald and Richard; her sister, GeorgeAnn; her children, Ann (husband, TJ), Mark (wife, Christine), and Paul; and her grandchildren, Madigan, Warren, Ronan, Griffin, and Gretchen.

Born 1936 in Sioux City, IA, Mary was number two in a family of seven. Losing her father at twelve, she grew up quickly and discovered a passion for math. She studied mathematics at Briar Cliff College in Sioux City and taught high school math as a nun for ten years. She then left the convent to pursue her master's in math at Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI. There she met Edward. They courted until they finished schooling and were married on Beethoven’s birthday in 1967. They moved to Connecticut, and almost exactly nine months later, their daughter, Ann, was born. Two years later, Mark followed, and four years after that, Paul.

While the family lived in different areas in Connecticut, one place remained consistent: Montague, MI. Every summer, the family packed their bags and headed to their cottage on Lake Michigan. When Edward flew back to work, Mary took on all three kids showing them how to have fun with things as simple as beach rocks, a ball of string, and a library card. As the children grew, Mary was itching to use her degrees for something more than tutoring grade school math, but it wasn’t until 1980 when the family relocated back to the Midwest in Illinois that Mary decided to return to studies to prepare for her next step. Mary pursued computer science when the internet was barely more than a noisy box and a phone line. She became a computer systems programmer at Bell Labs. There, she thrived. She enjoyed her job and the people she worked with very much - she’d found her new passion.

Mary’s house was never empty. If there was an open room or bed, it was filled. As her own kids grew up, went to colleges, dropped out of colleges, transferred colleges, got their first jobs, got fired from their first jobs, etc. others, typically friends of her original three, were welcomed to stay for as long as they needed while getting on their feet. Mary treated them as extended family. At this point, she became something more than Mom, she became a friend.

Mary remained at her evolving workplace until she and Edward got the chance to retire early and build their dream home on the Michigan cottage property and become permanent residents of Montague. There, Mary taught computers at the senior center and built her own computer from the ground up, still proving she was a computer math nerd for life. She also had a vast reading resume, was quite skilled at knitting, played Scrabble with the classiest words, and maintained a home her kids, honorary “kids,” and extended family loved to visit.

About 15 or so years ago, dementia, then Alzheimer’s, took over her brilliant mind and slowly chipped away at it until she succumbed to it and natural causes at 90 years.

Mary led an incredible life, defying stereotypes, breaking through with her career, traveling abroad with her husband, and opening her home and her family to kids who were in the midst of finding their way. She will be missed by all she touched.

1. Fading photograph
2. Memories lost like a dream
3. Our hearts you will stay
4. -Paul 
5. 
   

In lieu of flowers, Mary’s family asks all to consider a donation to the national Alzheimer’s Association for research. http://www.alz.org 

Beacon Cremation & Funeral Service, White Lake Chapel, is in charge of arrangements.

www.beaconfh.com