Ann Marie Lisovicz

Ann Marie Lisovicz, an unassuming and beloved matriarch of her own family and others, passed away peacefully on February 7, 2025, at the age of 95. She was a true gem, gorgeous both inside and out, and will be dearly missed by so many who knew her. Ann Marie was born in New York City on September 22, 1929, to August and Julia Reid. When she was young, the family moved to Windsor Road in Wood-Ridge where she and her older brother James grew up. She graduated from St. Mary's High School in Rutherford and then attended St. Mary's Hospital School of Nursing, graduating in 1951 as a Registered Nurse. She served as a public health nurse in Rutherford for a short while but soon found herself working as the company nurse at Thomas Electronics in Passaic. There she met the love of her life, Edward Lisovicz. Ed was so smitten by her that he proposed after just a few months. Though startled she said yes, and over the ensuing decades she often marveled about it being the best decision she ever made. The couple were married on May 1, 1954. They honeymooned in Miami. Ed reported that a waiter there told him he had never seen a man so attentive to his wife. The joke was that the guy was just looking for a good tip, but deep down everyone knew this was actually true. They immediately moved into a home on Mt. Cedar Avenue in Wallington that they filled with four children in five years: Paul, Susan, James, and Donna. Amid the ensuing concussions, calamities, and chaos, which once included three children being hospitalized at the same time, the nurse was steady, calm and composed raising a family. When the children were old enough to go to school, Ann Marie returned to nursing, working at St. Mary's Hospital in Passaic for over twenty years as a surgical and recovery room nurse. Her family fondly recalls her leaving for work everyday in a pristine outfit of white nurse's dress, white hose, white shoes, and white cap. Ann Marie was the consummate R.N., but it was not her professionalism and medical wisdom that set her apart and endeared her to others. She was pure of heart and generous of spirit. She was caring, compassionate, forgiving and helpful, and she brought these qualities to everything else she did in life. The list of friends and neighbors she tended to in trying times is long and inspiring, whether it be rushing someone to the hospital because her water broke, dipping a baby in a cold bath to bring down a dangerously high fever, accompanying people in the hospital during surgery, or providing comfort and companionship to friends and family as their health declined. At 95, she was still a go-to source for medical problems. She had the vocabulary of a skilled surgeon and was well versed in almost every medical specialty. She ended her career as the Borough Nurse in Wallington, administering to senior citizens and children of all ages. She was completely devoted to her husband Edward, and he to her. When Ed retired, one of his greatest joys was cooking for his wife full time. And despite his unusual and sometimes unsuccessful culinary experiments, she was a happy recipient because she disliked cooking but was a real foodie. She delighted in new dishes: avocado toast, truffle fries, even some vegan. Ed often said he wanted to live exactly one day longer than his angel Ann Marie so he could take care of her his entire life, but as it turned out it was she who carefully and lovingly nursed him during the last years of his life. Around the clock care. They had an amazing marriage, and they lived together in that house on Mt. Cedar for sixty years, until "Easy Ed" passed in May of 2014. Not a day went by since then that Ann Marie did not mention him. She so deeply loved him and felt his absence every day. But Ann Marie's greatest test was when her daughter Donna had a recurrence of cancer in 1990. It was a harrowing time of false hopes and excruciatingly painful developments. While Ed and Ann Marie poured themselves into caring for Donna, it was Ann Marie who saintly navigated the entire family through Donna's treatment and passing. She was not bitter or self-pitying, but she was brokenhearted. She took care of many difficult patients. She herself was not one of them. Since 2018 she struggled with chronic heart conditions that sapped her of her breath and dry eye macular degeneration that robbed her of most of her sight. Yet, she was remarkably accepting and incredibly forbearing of her situation. She still put the NY Jets football games on but now depended solely on the announcers to determine how lousy they were doing. She NEVER complained about her illnesses. Right up to the end, she was cognizant, pleasant, informative, and grateful. The number of doctors and others who commented about what a pleasure she was to meet and treat is hard to believe. One of the last doctors who saw her in the hospital said she was the best and nicest patient he has ever attended. Ann Marie was a wonderful wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, aunt, friend, and second mother. She had the capacity to see past or forgive the worst in others and carried herself with a grace and dignity that her family revered. Her goodness, her kindness, and her spirit will live on with her son Paul and his wife Joan; her daughter Susan and her husband Lawrence Bijou; her son James and his wife Laurie; her adoring grandchildren, Jessica and her husband John Rabiner, Edan and his wife Katherine, Phillip and his wife Carly, Edward and his wife Samantha, Danielle, Juliann, and Jennifer; and her great-grandchild Landon Reid Lisovicz. Ann Marie treasured her grandchildren. After spending most of her life in a Polish town with her Polish husband, when the first of the seven was born she said she would like to be called "Babczi," which was certainly not a word this Irish-American lass heard while growing up. But the name fit her perfectly. Everyone loved Babczi. She attended countless piano recitals and games of lacrosse, basketball, soccer, and football involving her grandchildren. If it was an outside event, she could be spotted in her Jackie O shades, one of her huge assortment of sun hats, and a stylish outfit that she personally picked out. She made the road trips to all seven of the college graduations, across the Northeast and down to Virginia, and she made the flights for weddings out of state and outside the country. Babczi was the highlight and center of every Lisovicz function. Her family is heartsick but blessed to have had her so enrich their lives. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation in her memory to the Institute for Cancer Care at Mercy, 227 St. Paul Place, Baltimore, MD 21202.

Ann Marie Lisovicz

September 22, 1929 - February 7, 2025