Mary Elizabeth (MaryBeth) Walsh DeBlasio, the longtime campus minister in Donovan Catholic High School, Toms River, died May 7 at age 62.
Funeral services will be held May 13 in St. Joseph Church, 685 Hooper Ave., Toms River. Visitation will begin at 3 p.m., followed by a Mass of Christian Burial at 5:30 p.m. Burial will be private.
Mrs. DeBlasio was born in 1961 in Wynnewood, Pa., and attended Catholic Schools. She earned a bachelor of arts degree in religious studies and English from Marywood University, Scranton, Pa., and a master of arts degree in theology from the University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Ind. She began her teaching career, living in a convent, as a lay associate with the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Scranton.
Since 1983 she worked as a religion teacher, retreat facilitator, campus minister and an English adjunct professor. Most of her teaching years were spent in Donovan Catholic High School. She also served the Diocese as associate director of the Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry for a couple of years and she also assisted the Office of Radio and Television with writing scripts for the Realfaith TV teen program.
Mrs. DeBlasio was predeceased by her father, Thomas Walsh Sr. She is survived by her husband of 32 years, Dominick; daughter, Anna, and her finance, Ryan Andrews; her mother and stepfather, Regina and Robert Lewis; her brother and sister as well as aunts, uncles, cousins, brothers-and-sisters-in-law, nephews, nieces, grandnephews, grandnieces and friends. She is also survived by her colleagues in Donovan Catholic and the clergy, staff and fellow parishioners of St. Joseph Parish, all of whom she regarded as her “faith family.”
Memorial donations may be made to the Donovan Catholic Advancement Office, Attn: Jeanmarie Lamme, 711 Hooper Ave., Toms River, N.J. 08753.