Maureen Timony, a retired East Hills Elementary School physical education teacher, died Aug. 10 in Las Vegas. She was 58 years old.
Tom Valentino, who worked with Timony for more than 20 years, sharing a gymnasium and teaching side by side, said she had a special affinity for her job and her students.
“First and foremost, she took great pride in teaching physical education, and you saw that in the way she taught and how professional she was,” Valentino said. “She really took her job seriously, and she really cared about kids. She truly put her heart and soul in her profession and wanted to do the best for her kids.”
Valentino hosted a retirement party at his home for Timony when she left the district in 2015, a year before his own retirement, and said he was lucky to have spent his teaching time alongside Timony.
“She was a big proponent of kids who had disabilities,” Valentino said. “We would take students to the [Nassau County Empire State] Games for the Physically Challenged. She was an excellent teacher. I was blessed to be able to work with her. I thought we were a fantastic team, working together.”
While Timony loved teaching her younger students, she also worked with the Roslyn High School volleyball players, founding the boys program in 1989. After decades of hard work, she took her 2014 team to the Nassau County Class B tournament and earned the district’s first county win.
“Volleyball was her expertise as far as coaching goes,” Valentino said. “She coached a lot of different sports over the years, but mainly the boys and girls volleyball was something she did for the district for many years. That was her baby.”
During her last year with the district, Valentino said, Timony bought a house in Las Vegas and was looking forward to moving to the desert to be closer to her family.
Timony was born May 20, 1959, to Maurice and the late Eileen Timony of Merrick. Maureen was one of seven siblings, the sister of Dennis Timony, Joanne Warren, Theresa Hurtado, Michael Timony, Kathleen Timony and Ellen Stayman.
“She still had a house here on Long Island, but she was excited about moving to her new house in Vegas,” Valentino said. “That’s the kind of person she was. She wanted to be there for her family. She was always a family-oriented person and wanted to do whatever she could do.”
Timony’s brother-in-law Kevin Stayman recently started a GoFundMe campaign to build a Maureen Timony Memorial Scholarship fund for a deserving Roslyn school district student-athlete.
“She always talked fondly of ‘her kids,’ and she cared deeply that they grew to be true team players who knew what it was to focus, work hard and ultimately succeed on the court and in life,” Stayman said. “We ask that in lieu of flowers, you consider making a donation to this scholarship fund in her name.”
