Obituary of Marion Rose Nolan

Local beauty heads home!  Whenever Marion had a close call in life, she would say that her obituary would have read “Local beauty heads home!” Welcome home, beautiful. 

Still vibrant at the age of 87, Marion Rose (Donnelly) Nolan, of Boynton Beach, Fla and Colonie, NY wife of late Francis J. Nolan and dear companion of late Alex Davis passed peacefully on September 27, 2021.   Mother of: Francis J. (Julie) Nolan, Jr., Nancy (Ernest) Fink, Patti (late Alfred) DiBernardo, John P. (Stacey) Nolan, Ellen (Dominick) Brignola, Kathleen (William) Mattar and grandmother of 19 and great grandmother of 20. She’s survived by many nieces and nephews.   

One of eight children, she’s survived by Jack (late Jean) Donnelly, Daniel (Victoria) Donnelly and Joseph Donnelly and predeceased by Katherine (Joseph) Eichinger, Margaret (late John) Clancy,  Patricia (late Robert) Adams and Alphonse (late Lillian) Donnelly.  Her father, John, passed when she was four years old.  Her mother, Louise Perrault Donnelly, worked hard to keep the family together.  Marion told of her brothers sleeping in the attic so their rooms could be rented for income and foraging in neighbor’s vegetable gardens when they were hungry.  She left school after the eighth grade to work, and it’s good that she’s gone because she NEVER wanted people to know that.  She married at 17 and told how she thought that pregnancy was caused by kissing with your mouth open – six children are the result of that open-mouth kissing.  Marion was always trying to better herself and worked while raising her children.  She opened a beauty salon when her youngest was six.  Her clients became her dear friends as did many of her employees because of her humor, kindness and her extra-large false eyelashes!  Everyone was welcome wherever she was for a meal and more.  She invited down-on-their-luck friends to live with her family and could host a sit-down dinner for 30 in a space meant for 8. By the way, she always used a tablecloth and forbade paper plates. She never let arguments lead to estrangements and even manipulated the seating arrangements at her granddaughter’s wedding so two of her siblings, who had stopped talking to each other, were seated together.  She kept the wine coming until all were laughing again.  When one grandchild was going down a wrong path, she doggedly pursued him by tracking him down and showing up on his doorstep constantly.  He’d always say, “Grammy! How did you find me??”  The answer was: by any means necessary!  And that is a bit how she lived her life. She was a firm Christian who decided to live determinedly with joy.   She never stopped working and was a companion to seniors when she was a senior herself.  She brought her joy to them by turning on music from the 1940s for daily dance time and throwing birthday parties for her clients who had no relatives nearby.  She would walk door to door inviting her clients’ neighbors to make sure that there were guests at the party.  She had great love of our Mother Mary and the saints.  So, say hello to the newest saint – Marion, patron saint of Forgiveness and Fun.  We love you Mom, Grammy.  

The family will be present at the WJ Lyons Funeral Home 1700 Washington Ave Rensselaer, NY 12144 on Thursday September 30th from 4pm-7pm.  A Mass of Christian Burial will be at 10am on Friday October 1st at St. Mary’s at Clinton Heights 163 Columbia Turnpike East Greenbush, NY 12144 with internment at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery Rensselaer, NY.  In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Marion’s memory to St. Luke’s Mission of Mercy www.stlukesmissionofmercy.org/donate.html  or Alight Care Center  alight.org/home/donations/