Obituary of Elizabeth Jane Mulvey

Elizabeth Jane Mulvey passed away peacefully at home on December 14, 2024. 

Born to Elizabeth (Hudson) and Franklin Laufersweiler in the Bronx on August 21, 1926, Elizabeth Jane (Laufersweiler) Mulvey led a life centered on her family, faith, and the small pleasures of her long life. She loved her early mornings drinking coffee and enjoying the view of Sackett Lake, where she lived since the 1980s, after moving from her home on Carpenter Place in Monticello, where she raised her five children. 

Known as “Betty” by many, as well as mom, grandma, and nana, Elizabeth graduated Monticello High School in 1945, where she played basketball and the clarinet in the marching band. After high school, she studied at the Pratt Business School in New York City. She had a tremendous work ethic and career, working as a bookkeeper at Macy’s in New York after business school, and then returning to Monticello where she worked at Sullivan Trust Bank and Rhulen’s Insurance Agency. She married Joseph William Mulvey in 1947 and went on to open and co-own Mulvey’s Marine and Sports Shop with him. She worked there while raising her children and making a hearty dinner with meat and potatoes every night. 

She enjoyed bowling and could dance a great Irish jig (or so she thought!). She had great adventures traveling with her sisters, swimming at the lake, visiting the ocean, golfing with her sister Lois, and playing dominoes with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and cheering on her beloved Yankees and Jets teams. She liked to stay busy and worked at the Harris Hospital Gift Shop for many years into her eighties and nineties and would regularly volunteer in civic and church-related activities. She was a devout member of St. Peter’s Church, where she was a member of the Catholic Daughters. She had a great sense of humor and a wonderful twinkle in her eye that she never lost. 

Elizabeth loved her family and welcomed everyone to her dinner table. She had five children: William “Mickey” and his wife Donna, John, Eileen and her husband Bob McGuire, Thomas, and Edmond. She had five grandchildren: Sarah (Peter) Gaines, Tim Mulvey (Elise Bryers), Kelly (Eric) Tremper, Gregory (GwenHwa) McGuire, and Joseph (Meiqi) Mulvey, and six great-grandchildren: Elizabeth Mattea and Beatrice Gaines, Ryah and Carson Tremper, and Logan and Ian McGuire. She is also survived by her brother-in-law, Robert Van Etten and many nieces and nephews.

Her husband, Joe, and her sons John and Edmond, will welcome her in heaven. There she will also find her siblings, with whom she shared many adventures and lifelong friendship: Lucille and her husband Louis Farchione, Patricia Van Etten, Franklin "Bucky" and his wife Ellen Laufersweiler, and Lois Fleming. 

The family is grateful for the support provided by caregivers Ruth, Mary, and Doreen, as well as by Hospice of Orange and Sullivan Counties. 

There will be a mass at St. Peter’s Church and a celebration of her life to follow the mass in the spring. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to St. Peter’s Church, Hospice of Orange and Sullivan Counties, or St. Jude Children’s Hospital. 

Arrangements are under the direction of the VanInwegen-Kenny, Inc. Funeral Home of Monticello NY; for additional information or to send an online condolence, please visit www.kennyfuneralhome.com