Obituary: Jean M. Hefner, 89

Jean M. Hefner — a devoted wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, and a lifelong Rockville Centre resident — died at home after a prolonged illness on July 17. She was 89.

Hefner was born to John and Mary Flanagan on Feb. 5, 1925 in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. When she was two years old, her family moved to Rockville Centre, where Hefner lived for the rest of her life.

Her family was Catholic, and Hefner’s faith was a central tenant of her life. She received her first communion at the old St. Agnes Church (before the cathedral was built). As a child in grammar school, she sold bricks to help fund the cathedral’s construction. She spent her childhood in Catholic school, attending classes at St. Agnes for all of her schooling. She graduated in 1942.

She met her husband, Wallace Hefner, at dances hosted at the St. Agnes Academic School during World War II. Wallace, also a Rockville Centre resident, was an engineer working for an electrical company and would set up much of the lighting for the shows at St. Agnes, which was how he met Jean. The two were married on Sept. 6, 1947.

In 1949, the couple settled down in a house on Lakeview Avenue, where Hefner lived until her death.

Before they had children, Hefner worked in the city for the Federal Reserve Bank, and then for the Fitch Cornell Company — the precursor to Hotel Bar Butter. Eventually, Hefner left Manhattan and came back to Rockville Centre, working for Fred Gibson, who built the Greystone section of town.

The couple desperately wanted children, but had no luck. Seven years after their marriage, they adopted a daughter, Maribeth. She was soon followed by three biological children: Gerard, Gregory and Stephen.

When they adopted Maribeth, Hefner retired from her position to raise her children full time. She loved her children, and took great pride in their appearance, as well as her own and the appearance of her home.

“She was always well put-together,” said her daughter, Maribeth Murphy. “She wore skirts every day. That was her uniform. We grew up with a mother in plaid skirts. She never wore pants until much later in life.”