Mary Cheryl Cohn-Pause passed away Monday, March 23, 2026, at the age of 79 after a long battle with many health issues, at Westchester Medical Center. She was born in Cobleskill Nov. 18, 1946 to Howard J. Cohn Sr. and Alice Truax-Cohn.
Surviving family members include her brother Howard J. Cohn Jr. (Dorothy), sister Susan Tait (Michael), her cherished daughters Michelle Sue Eck (Rich), Pamela Ann D’Addezio (Joe), and Kathleen Marie Goulet (Burt); grandchildren Ryan James Furgerson (Danielle), Kaitlynn Brianne Bugge (Jake), Gabriel James Goulet, Andrew Joseph D’Addezio, Olivia Paige Goulet, and Brianna May D’Addezio; great-grandchildren Landon Jacob Bugge, Charlotte Rose Bugge and Emma Breanne Furgerson, as well as several nieces and nephews.
Mary graduated from South Kortright Central School in 1965 with a regents high school diploma. She graduated from Mildred Elly Secretarial College in Albany in 1967 and married Clifton L. Pause from Massachusetts that same year.
Mary was a wife and mother for many years, working out of the home for REA, dispatching for three years and Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. She worked for Delaware Academy High School for eight years as assistant cook/baker and worked on register. She worked part-time for a dentist and worked at O’Connor Hospital in medical records as well as working for a lawyer. This was after she went back to college in her 40s to finish her associates degree in secretarial science. Other jobs she held were for LARC Home Care Agency for 18 years as a CNA, and as a CNA privately for 13.5 years.
She transcribed books for David Dalton for several years, working on such books as, Meatloaf, “To Hell and Back, The Autobiography of Meatloaf,” Jim Rosenquist “Painting Below Zero, Notes on a Life in Art,” Peggy Lipton, “Breathing Out,” and Paul Anka, “My Way, An Autobiography.”
Mary enjoyed cooking, baking, vegetable and flower gardening, crafts, and reading. She also loved music and enjoyed dancing and singing to it. She was an avid picture taker, wanting to capture every moment with her family. Most of all, she loved spending time with her family, whether it be a big family dinner where she always hosted, or a lazy summer day having a barbecue and a fire, roasting marshmallows for s’mores.
Calling hours will take place at Courtney Funeral Home, Friday, April 3, between 6 and 8 p.m. There will be no service following. The family would like to have a private gathering.
Thank you to all who knew Mary, to all who prayed for her during these last weeks, loved and cared for her, and let her know that you were there for her. She fought hard, but it became too much and now she is at peace. We will end with these beautiful words she always said to her three girls, “I’ll love you forever, for always and for an eternity. Never say goodbye. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
