Marion DeFeo

Marion DeFeo, 90, reunited with her loved ones who went to heaven before her on March 12, 2016. 

            Born in Philadelphia in 1926, she was the youngest of six children.  She told stories of growing up in the Great Depression, about cutting pictures out of magazines to make paper dolls, about sitting on milk crates when their furniture was repossessed, about her father taking any job he could find – like selling ties on the street – to support her family, about her brother working in one of President Roosevelt’s conservation programs.

            She met her first husband, Jack Kofoed, on a blind date when she was sixteen. They fell in love almost immediately, but he was killed on Okinawa in the last months of World War II, just three weeks after their daughter, Karen Muldoon, was born. Her loss was made even harder because her mother was very ill. She and her father bought a candy store in South Philadelphia so they could care for her mother and daughter. Within a year, both of her parents died.

            She met her second husband, Bill DeFeo, and they had four children, Lynne O’Neill, Barbara Pearce, Dr. Joe DeFeo, and Diane Podolsky.

            A devoted stay-at-home mom, she went to work at the Internal Revenue Service after all of her children were in school. She wanted to earn enough so that they could attend college without running up debt. She was proud that she had raised a doctor, a teacher, an accountant, an artist and a writer.

            In her later years, she met her third love, David Goodale, with whom she traveled the world.

            To all who knew her she was the embodiment of love and generosity, and even when she struggled with Alzheimer’s Disease, she never lost the essence of who she was. Her memory faded in and out, but she always had a smile and kind word and she also asked about how her children were. And she was still the consummate caregiver asking if they’d like her to prepare anything special to eat – even though in reality she could no longer cook.

            In addition to her five children, she had six grandchildren and ten great grandchildren, all of whom feel blessed to have had her for a mother, grandmother and great grandmother.

In lieu of flowers the family request memorial donations to The Alzheimer’s Foundation of America.  Donations can be made on line at alzfdn.org or mailed to The Alzheimer’s Foundation of America, 322 Eighth Avenue, 7th floor,  New York, New York  10001.  A memorial service will be held at a later date.