Mary Louise Sirignano

Mary Louise Sirignano, born Marguerite Maria Martino on August 23, 1931, at the New York Foundling Hospital, died peacefully on March 4, 2026, in St. Paul, Minnesota, after a brief illness, surrounded by family and friends.

Adopted at age seven by Charles and Rose Salvio, who renamed her Mary Louise, she was raised first in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and later in Brooklyn, New York. From an early age, music shaped her life. The Sisters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul recognized her gift for piano and made the purchase of an instrument a condition of her adoption. As a child she performed on the radio, and she went on to study briefly at The Juilliard School of Music before attending Marywood College.

Mary Lou lived across the United States and in Europe, forming lifelong friendships wherever she went. She served as church organist at St. Rose of Lima in Freehold, New Jersey, where she chaperoned early performances by a young Bruce Springsteen, taught music at St. Mary’s High School in South Amboy, and for many years was organist for the Catholic Diocese of Trenton. Since 1985 she made her home in St. Paul, Minnesota, where she remained in her downtown condominium after being widowed in 2000, cherished by her church family at Our Lady of Victory Chapel at St. Catherine University.

She is survived by her daughters Marylouise and Rita, her son John, grandchildren Karl, Stefan, John Pierre, Noah, Sara, Kendall, and Caroline, and great-grandchildren Blake and Kyle. At age 88 she joyfully connected with her paternal birth family and is also survived by her brother Michael Matero, niece Patricia Guinee, cousin Tony Matero, and other extended family. She will rest beside her beloved husband of 47 years, Stanley, at Fort Snelling National Cemetery in Minneapolis. To Mary Lou, nothing mattered more than her faith, her music, and the value of education.