Mary Jane Mott Auns

WINTHROP – Mary Jane Mott Auns, 80, passed away at the Alfond Center for Health on July 25, 2025. She was born on August 4, 1944, in Roslyn, NY, to the late Clarence Mott and Grace Hohmann.

After graduating from the Cathedral School of St. Mary in Garden City NY, Mary Jane received her undergraduate history degree from Denison University in 1966 and received her Master’s in Education from the University of Pennsylvania.

Following school, Mary Jane worked in New York City, and it was there where she met the love of her life, Vilis Auns, at Brandy’s, a bar on the Upper East Side. After a three-week courtship, they became engaged and were married four months later in April 1972. They were married for 44 years until Vilis’ death in August 2016.

During their marriage, they lived in New Orleans, London, England, raised their family in Princeton Junction, New Jersey and then spent five years in Houston, Texas before retiring to Winthrop, Maine in 2005.

Mary Jane spent her career as an elementary school teacher in New Jersey and Texas. An avid reader, she was always an advocate for public libraries and after retiring to Maine, she joined the Board of Trustees for the Winthrop Public Library where she served for 12 remarkable years. With her best friend, Elizabeth Sienko, she was integral in raising money for the library’s expansion in 2015 and the 2021 parking lot project. Mary Jane also was a member of the Board of Directors for Camp Runoia in Belgrade Lakes, Maine for many years.

She volunteered at the Winthrop Food Pantry, offered her time as a tutor to children at the elementary school, and played ukulele in the Bailey Ukulele Band. She loved going to the Maine State Music Theater, visiting different towns in Maine with her close friends, and was a competitive trivia player.

Mary Jane is survived by her children, Krissy Mott Oliver and her husband Justin of Scituate, Mass. and Andrew Vilis Auns and his wife Enith of Southlake, Texas; six grandchildren, Jackson, Grace, and Maddie Oliver and Claudio, Cristina, and Mariana Auns; cousins, Victoria Kate Moffatt Gorecki and her husband, Phillip and James Andrew Moffatt and his wife Christine of Front Royal, Va.; brother-in-law Vilnis Auns and his wife Faye of Ottowa, Canada; nephew, Dan Auns and niece, Adrienne Vienneau of Canada.

Mary Jane’s visitation will be held on Friday, August 1, 2025 from 2:30 – 3:30 p.m. at Roberts Funeral Home, 62 Bowdoin Street, Winthrop. Her memorial service will follow immediately after. Relatives and friends are respectfully invited.

Arrangements and guidance are in the care of Roberts Funeral Home and Cremation Care, 62 Bowdoin Street, Winthrop, Maine.

Condolences, memories, and photos may be shared with the family on the obituary page of the Roberts Funeral Home website http://www.khrfuneralhomes.com

In lieu of flowers,

memorial donations

may be made to:

Winthrop Public

Library Foundation

P.O. Box 580

Winthrop, ME 04364