GUILDERLAND — Mary Jane Safford, a lifelong resident of Guilderland Center and a gifted seamstress, died on Thursday, March 26, 2020, at our Lady of Mercy Life Center in Guilderland. She was 89. 

Mrs. Safford was born in her Guilderland Center home on Oct. 14, 1930, to Richard Safford and Margaret Moak Kay. Her great-grandmother taught her to sew when she was 10 years old, instilling in the young girl a passion that would last her lifetime. 

“She was a seamstress I would say for most of her life,” said Mrs. Safford’s daughter, Emma Kay Van Alstyne. “She used to make her blouses and stuff for school out of flour bags.” 

The year Mrs. Safford graduated from Voorheesville’s high school, she met her future husband, Morris Safford Sr., at a dance at the Duanesburg firehouse. 

“My father was out with a buddy of his on his motorcycle,” Ms. Van Alstyne said. “They saw a dance was happening so they stopped in. [My Dad] said, ‘I’m going to ask that girl to dance.’”

Because Mr. Safford was a few years older than Mrs. Safford — 22 to her 19, Ms. Van Alstyne estimated — his friend suggested that Mrs. Safford was too young to court, but Mr. Safford was adamant. 

“And that was that,” Ms. Van Alstyne said. 

To help support her husband and three children, as well as pursue her passion, Mrs. Safford sewed custom wedding dresses for local clients, along with most of the clothing for her family — eventually teaching her oldest daughter, Ms. Van Alstyne, to sew for herself. 

“My sister didn’t want anything to do with it,” Ms. Van Alstyne said, “and I always wondered how she got away with it. But she was the youngest, so she could have gotten away with murder.” 

Ms. Van Alstyne, meanwhile, had to rely on her own skill any time she wanted new clothes, she said. 

“I used to babysit and all that money went toward shoes and purses and other accessories,” Ms. Van Alstyne said, unburdened by the need to spend money on clothes. “So I always blamed my mom for how many shoes I have.” 

Mrs. Safford spread her talents wide and selflessly, teaching sewing at adult-education classes at Guilderland High School and teaching the Guilderland Seniors. She also sewed for the Helderberg Reformed Church and taught swim instructors for the Red Cross, her family wrote in a tribute. 

“She could make anything she wanted,” Ms. Van Alstyne said. 

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Mary Jane Safford is survived by two of her children — Emma Kay Van Alstyne, and her husband, Robert, of Guilderland Center and Morris Safford Jr., and his wife, Krista of East Berne; and by eight grandchildren, nine great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandson.

Her husband of 45 years, Morris Safford Sr., died in 1996. Her daughter Lynn Ann Ruby also died before her, as did her son-in-law Kenneth Ruby, and her granddaughter Michele Ruby. 

A private graveside service will be held at Mary Jane Safford’s request with the date to be announced later.

Memorial messages may be left at www.altamontenterprise.com/milestones. 

Memorial contributions may be made to Helderberg Reformed Church, 435 Route 146, Guilderland Center, New York, 12085.

— Noah Zweifel