Mary Barbara (Ondera) Chomitz, a resident of Heritage Village in Southbury, passed away on February 16 while in hospice care at Waterbury Hospital.  She was 100 years of age.

Before she relocated to Southbury to be near family, Mary lived for 22 years in Vineyard Haven on Martha's Vineyard, an island that she considered to be a New England paradise.  She moved to Martha's Vineyard after retiring from Bloomingdale's department store in Short Hills, New Jersey, where she worked in Sales for over 20 years.

In her youth, Mary was employed in Manhattan as a telephone operator for New York Telephone.  During World War II, Mary joined a team of her fellow women who worked as riveters in a Tarrytown, New York assembly plant, where she built Spitfire airplanes.  After her marriage to Nicholas Chomitz, a World War II veteran and chemical engineer, Mary took a long break from employment to raise her children, two sons and one daughter.  She was a quiet, peaceful and kindly woman who cared deeply for her family and was much loved in return.  Mary loved cats, babies and anything chocolate.  Her favorite film, which she viewed again with pleasure shortly before her passing, was "Casablanca".   She will be intensely missed by her family and friends.

Mary's eldest son, Nicholas, an artist, died after many years of struggle with Agent Orange poisoning after his service in the Army Infantry in Vietnam.  Mary is survived by her remaining children, a younger son, Christopher Chomitz, her daughter-in-law, Sherry Thomas, both residents of Southbury, and her youngest daughter and caregiver, Marsha Cerner, from Morristown, New Jersey.

A Funeral Mass will be held at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, 910 Main St. S. Southbury, CT, on Monday February 26, 2024 at 10am. To leave a message of support for Mary's family, please visit www.munsonloveterefuneralhome.com.

To leave a message of support for Mar y's family, please visit www.munsonloveterefuneralhome.com.