P. Mahon, North Babylon mom, crossing guard, dead at 48

A school crossing guard and mother of three, Phyliss Mahon was known for her cheesecake and a singing voice her family compared to that of Barbra Streisand.

That voice went silent Friday when Mahon, 48, died from an infection contracted after a bone-marrow transplant. She had been diagnosed with leukemia in September.

"She was the strongest woman you ever wanted to know," said her husband, Ronald Mahon, 47. "She just touched so many lives and she is going to be greatly missed."

The North Babylon couple celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary March 29.

Mahon was born Aug. 7, 1961, in Brooklyn and moved to Deer Park at age 11. She graduated from Deer Park High School in 1979.

While raising a family, she held a variety of jobs, including sales supervisor at the Kohl's in Deer Park. She was proudest of her job as a crossing guard, working Sunrise Highway and 35th Street in the Copiague School District.

"She got along with all the children," Ronald Mahon said. "She always used to be the type of person to say hello to the kids and talk to them."

As her children got older, Mahon wanted to go back to school and in 2008 began attending classes at Branford Hall Career Institute in Bohemia. She graduated as valedictorian with a 4.0 grade point average and a nursing assistant's degree.

Her graduation in September came just ahead of her leukemia diagnosis, which Mahon faced with determination, family said.

"She always had a positive attitude about life," Ronald Mahon said, "that everything is going to work out."

Mahon was active in the Association of Municipal Employees union and took pleasure in cooking - her family said she made the best cheesecake on the planet - drawing, painting and singing, though not in public, only in front of her family.

In addition to her husband, Mahon is survived by her children Brian, 20, Jessica, 16, and Steven, 12; siblings Donna Sanders of Dalton, Mass., and Lisa Pizzonia and Frank Ragone Jr., both of North Babylon; her mother, Jeanette Winter of West Babylon; her father, Frank Ragone Sr. of Deer Park; and her stepfather, Frederick Winder of West Babylon. Mahon was the daughter-in-law of Ronald Mahon Sr. and Maryann Mahon of Deer Park.