Genevieve Dwyer, mother of four and wife of former mayor, dies at 84

Genevieve Dwyer, the mother of four sons, died in her sleep at home in Lakewood, New Jersey, Sunday afternoon after a bout with metastatic cancer. She was 84.

Dwyer was the wife of Henry Dwyer, who was a former mayor of Floral Park, state assemblyman and chief deputy Nassau County executive under Francis Purcell. From 1987 to 2000, he was the administrator of the Diocese of Rockville Centre.

“She was a medical wonder,” said her son Matthew Dwyer, of Long Beach, who is the director of the Nassau County Office of the Physically Challenged.

“She always told us that ‘every day is a gift . . . don’t waste it,’” he said. “In 1946, when she was 16, she was diagnosed with a rare and life-threatening form of hypertension. Doctors told her parents that even with radical experimental surgery, they would not expect her to live beyond the age of 21, and even if she did, successful childbirth was not an option.”

She spent two months in the hospital and missed almost two years of school and, at her first school dance, she met Henry Dwyer. They were married in 1954 and moved to Floral Park in 1960, he said. Her husband died in 2006.

Another son, Michael, of Los Angeles, said: “Mom took great pride in her responsibilities as the wife of a political leader and elected official. Always dignified, loyal and humbled by the challenges and opportunities political life presented. She was one classy lady.”

She was an active member of both the Floral Park and Lakewood communities. She and her husband moved to New Jersey in 2001.

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She was active in her church — Our Lady of Victory in Floral Park and St. Lukes Roman Catholic Church in Toms River, New Jersey, where she was a eucharistic Minister. She was also a Lady Commander of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.

“She was like my second mother. She welcomed me into the family with open arms and never changed,” said Angela Dwyer, of Lakewood, the wife of another son, Paul Dwyer.

She is survived by another son, Peter, of Oceanside, and five grandchildren.

Visitation will be Tuesday from 2 to 4 p.m., and 7 to 9 p.m. at the D’Elia Funeral Home in Lakewood, N.J. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held Wednesday 10:30 AM at St. Luke’s Roman Catholic Church, also in Toms River.

Interment will follow at 2:30 p.m., with a graveside service at the Holy Rood Cemetery in Westbury. Online condolences may be sent by visiting www.deliafuneralhome.com