The proud mother of Donna, Maria Lynskey, is responsible for capturing nearly all of the moments on film in Remember the 80’s, Jersey Girl. Maria enjoyed photographing her son and daughter as they grew, and she knew the value of preserving a memory for them to look back on years later. Maria has also recently illustrated Jersey Girl, a book for which she create two stunning oil painting and shared her valuable vintage photos from the 1970’s or her family at the Jersey Shore. Donna’s childhood silhouette trademark representing Jersey Girl Publications is so meaningful as that, too, was an oil painting done by her mother. Maria feels that it is truly a blessing to know that the upbringing she and her husband, Tom, provided for their children is sincerely appreciated today. She is so thankful for her two beautiful grandchildren, two gifts given to her Donna and Dan.
Born to Frank and Mary Curatolo in Brooklyn, New York, Maria Lynskey has been sketching, painting, and singing since childhood. She majored in Art at New Utrecht Senior High School and earned the honor of a six month scholarship to Pratt Institute in Manhattan, New York and a Bronze Medal for “Art Character and Wisdom.” Her goal was to become an art teacher, however, that plan changed when her parents moved their family to New Jersey. There she met her husband, Thomas, and started to raise the family that she had dreamed of.The couple was blessed with Donna Marie in 1972 and Daniel Sean in 1973. Thomas always had a love for the Jersey shore, and they chose the Port Royal Hotel in Wildwood Crest as their annual summer family vacation spot from 1973 to the present. Many special memories were created and captured on film there. Maria’s plans of an art career were replaced with forty years of photographing those precious moments of her children in the surf and sand. Oil painting activities were then limited to continuing education courses and entering an occasional art contest.
While her daughter Donna was in college, Thomas’s company moved the family to Pennsylvania. Maria joined the Junior Women’s Club where she volunteered in her community and entered an art contest, winning second place for a mountain scene done in oils. She also enjoyed traveling abroad and photographing and painting magnificent scenery from these trips. Since her beloved husband has passed, the arts and volunteering continue to be a major part of her everyday life. Maria is a member of the Berks Art Alliance where she has derived the inspiration to utilize her artistic abilities and appreciation of oil painting and photography in her retirement years. Thankful to be a two-time survivor of breast cancer, Maria supports the newly diagnosed women as a volunteer for Breast Cancer Support Services, and her dedication was honored with the Volunteer of the Year award for 2015. Her love for music has manifested itself in thirty-nine years of singing in her church choirs.
In 2011, Donna and her husband, Brad, blessed Maria with a grandson whom she adores. If Maria could inspire him and other children to love art and music as she did, then she would have fulfilled her original goal for her lifetime. Maria expresses that it is truly an honor to be a part of her daughter’s endeavors to send a meaningful message of gratitude to children through Jersey Girl.