44°
TARRYTOWN, N.Y. Elizabeth "Libby" Scarborough Mascia, the founder of a child-care center in Tarrytown that now bears her name, died Sept. 15. She was 91.
Mascia was born Dec. 21, 1920, in Florence, S.C., to Orlando Calhoun Scarborough Jr. and Elizabeth Irene Turner Scarborough. She was raised in Winnsboro, S.C., and graduated from the Mount Zion Institute in Winnsboro in 1937 and Furman University in Grrenville, S.C., 1941.
After college, Mascia attended graduate school at Columbia University in New York Ciry. She met and married Dr. Armond "Mandy" Mascia. Through her husband, Mascia became involved in the Louis August Jonas Foundation and Camp Rising Sun in 1944.
Mascia was an active supporter of multiple organizations, charities and philanthropic endeavors in Westchester County. She was the founding president of the Day Care Center of the Tarrytowns in 1967, later renamed The Elizabeth Mascia Child Care Center.
Her family said that she has made a vital impact on the lives of generations of families through the center. She was also a founder of Abbott House in 1963, an organization and school supporting abused, neglected and abandoned children.
In the mid 1960s, Mascia served as a member of the Citizens Committee for the Family Court that led to the establishment of the Family Court System in Westchester County.
She was involved with the Phelps Memorial Hospital Auxiliary, Tarrytown chapter of the American Red Cross, Westchester Association for Retarded Citizens, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Westchester Medical Center Auxiliary, Hudson River Patriots chapter of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution and with local Girl Scout troops.
Mascia was also a co-chair of the Tarrytown Centennial Committee. In 1980, the Sleepy Hollow Chamber of Commerce named her and her husband the first Couple of the Year. She once played semi-professional basketball and was an avid sports fan, especially of the New York Yankees.
She and her husband, who died in 1990, were married for 45 years.
She is survived by seven children, Mary Ella (Gordon) Pierpont, Fred (Maggie) Mascia, Peggy (Bill) Ahrend, Melissa (Larry) Verdi, Nick Mascia, Etta (David) Biloon and Sara Mascia; eight grandchildren; five great-grandchildren and a nephew.
Visitation is from 7 to 9 p.m., Monday, and 5 to 8 p.m., Tuesday, at Coffey Funeral Home in Tarrytown. A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m., Wednesday, at Church of the Magdalene in Pocantico Hills. Burial will follow at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Tarrytown-SleepyHollow and receive free news updates.
