EAST BERNE — Grace M. Ryan, a successful saleswoman and a frugal homebody, died on Thursday, Dec. 3, 2015, at Ellis Hospital in Schenectady. She was 85. 



Mrs. Ryan was born in Utica on Aug. 30, 1930, to Merle and Mary (née Black) Thompson. She grew up in Albany, and married Earl L. Ryan on Nov. 29, 1953. The couple raised three children in East Berne.

Mrs. Ryan worked for Liberty Mutual — first in Albany, and later, in Latham — for 50 years, her daughter, Donna M. McNeill, said.

“She started out in business sales, then worked as a sales assistant,” Mrs. McNeill said. “She loved her work.”

“Grace will be remembered as a kind, loving, and giving person, and will be dearly missed by those who had the privilege to know and love her,” her family wrote in a tribute.

“She was always there for her family,” Mrs. McNeill said. “She was a good-hearted person, very religious.

Mrs. Ryan attended and was a member of the South Berne Congregational Church for many years.

“She loved South Berne,” she said of Mrs. Ryan’s church. “Six years ago, she moved off the Hill to Albany to be closer to me,” said Mrs. McNeill who lives in Colonie.

Mrs. Ryan then attended church services at the Community Reformed Church of Colonie, Mrs. McNeill said.

“She was a good listener,” Mrs. McNeill said of her mother. “She didn’t give much advice back, but she listened.”

Mrs. Ryan was a devoted wife and mother who enjoyed gardening, canning, puzzles, reading, and shopping at garage sales, her family wrote in a tribute.

“We used to go to garage sales,” Mrs. McNeill said. “We would leave at 6 o’clock in the morning, and go for breakfast.”

Before attending the sales, the two breakfasted at the Western Diner, Mrs. McNeill said.

“She loved it there,” she said of Mrs. Ryan.

Mrs. Ryan enjoyed reading “old Victorian romance novels,” her daughter said. “She had a ton of books,” she said, adding that most had been purchased at garage sales.

“She wouldn’t pay any more than a quarter,” her daughter said.

Mrs. Ryan also enjoyed attending church craft fairs, Mrs. McNeill said.

“She always bought stuffed animals for my dog, and books,” she said of her mother.

“Other than that, she was a homebody,” she said.

When Mrs. Ryan was younger, she kept two gardens at her East Berne home, Mrs. McNeill said.

“She loved to go berry picking,” she said of her mother. “She always made pickles, and jam. She enjoyed it. She was a homebody. I think she did learn from her mom.

“She was pretty simple, as far as her living,” Mrs. McNeill continued about Mrs. Ryan. “She wasn’t extravagant.”

Mrs. McNeill assisted Mrs. Ryan during her last years.

“She was pretty healthy until three years ago,” Mrs. McNeill said of her mother. Problems began when, while shopping at a garage sale, Mrs. Ryan fainted. Soon, she had been given a pacemaker, but then suffered congestive heart failure.

“It was pretty quick. I’m thankful that she didn’t suffer,” she said of her mother.

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Grace M. Ryan is survived by her son, Dennis E. Ryan and his wife, Alicia; her daughters, Donna M. McNeill and her husband, Michael; and Ruth Presti and her husband, Mike; her grandchildren, Daniel Ryan; Alicia VanIderstine and her husband, Frank; Patrick R. Toma; and James, John, and Shauna Presti; three great- grandchildren; her brothers, Wayne Thompson and his wife, Jean; Ralph Thompson and his wife, Joanne; her sisters-in-law, Katherine Thompson, Fran Thompson, and Anne Ryan; and her nieces, nephews, and cousins.



Her husband, Earl Ryan, died before her, as did her daughter, Jane Ryan; her siblings, Ronald, Jean, Shirley, and Merle; and her brother-in-law, Donald Ryan.

Online condolences may be made at NewcomerAlbany.com.

Calling hours will be held Thursday, Dec. 10, from 4 to 7 p.m. at New Comer Funeral Home. A funeral service will immediately follow at 7 p.m. Interment will take place on Friday, Dec. 11, at the family cemetery located at 3090 Delaware Tpk., East Berne, New York, 12059.

— Jo E. Prout