Mary Josephine Zepp
Born on March 26, 1937 in Tullamore, IrelandPassed Away October 26, 2026 in Rockledge, Florida
Our amazing mother, Mary Josephine Zepp (Farrell), 89, of Melbourne Florida, passed away peacefully on October 26, 2026, after a life of service and devotion to her family. Mary is preceded in death by her husband Stanley, her granddaughter, Ashley Zepp, her brothers John and Eugene Farrell, and her sisters Meraide Porch and Elizabeth Hall. She is survived by her sister, Alice Carter, children, Richard Zepp, Mary Kenniston (Bryan), Patricia Nevitt (Marvin), Kathleen Struckman (John), Alice King (Matthew), and her fourteen grandchildren, Shawn, Joshua and Justin, Kathleen, Casey, Elizabeth, Hannah, Matthew, Victoria, Leah, John III and James, Nicholas and Bethany, and two great-grandchildren, Nora and Emma.
Mom was born in Tullamore, County Offaly, Ireland on March 26, 1937. She grew up in the nearby town of Birr. Her father, Patrick Leo Farrell, was a polio survivor and was the owner and operator of a candy store. His mother, Mary Gleeson, was a homemaker, and mother to six children. All members of the family contributed to the family business, with the children even selling candy at candy at the nearby hurling and football matches. When Mom was a young teenager, the family relocated to Manchester, England. After completing primary schooling, Mom attended nursing school, but she ultimately left home and sailed for America in her early twenties, following in the footsteps of two of her sisters, her brother, and her Aunt Hannah.
For the next few years, she worked as a waitress at Stouffer’s Restaurant in Philadelphia. In 1961, Mom met our incredible father, a young engineer at Bell Labs, and a fellow renter at her boarding house. Mom saw something to admire in the awkward young engineer, and Dad treated the Irish lass like a queen. After a six-week courtship, they were engaged to be married. They married on June 16, 1962, and for the rest of their lives, they gave their marriage and their family their highest focus. After a few years, they moved to Orlando, Florida. Dad worked at Martin Marietta and Mom raised her children and was heavily active in their church, St. Andrews. Over the course of the first seven years of their marriage, they had five children.
In the Zepp household in the 70s, something was always happening. Despite the house being crowded with children, Mom and Dad frequently welcomed relatives and near-strangers into their home. These visitors included her sister and her entire family, a succession of cousins, the sister of their parish priest, and even a refugee couple from Vietnam, who did not speak a word of English. Everything changed in 1976, the family moved to Malabar, Florida during Christmas break. Within a year, Mom was hit with a devastating diagnosis of cancer in the left breast. She had a radical mastectomy and was on chemotherapy for the next two and a half years. Despite this burden, during this time she welcomed Dad’s mother into their home, who resided with them until she died.
In 1977, between chemotherapy infusions, Mom traveled alone to Ireland to make a pilgrimage to the Our Lady of Knock Shrine in her homeland. She carried a letter from her doctor outlining her grave condition in the event of her health failing during that trip. She came back with a new motto: let go and let God. She subsequently made a complete recovery from her cancer.
After her early waitress work, Mom’s found her true vocation in raising children. She worked as nanny for a succession of Brevard families before retiring with Dad to spend time with grandchildren and to travel. Many of the children she nannied are still in touch to this day. She also was an expert knitter and knitted many blankets, sweaters and scarves that the family treasures to this day. She was a wonderful hostess, and the full list of long-term houseguests and temporary residents to our home would easily surpass thirty people. Richard’s bedroom doubled as the guest bedroom, and he often slept on the couch for weeks at a time.
One thing that always struck her children was how well-adjusted our relationships with each other are. We joke that we fought so often as children that we got it all out of our systems. Eachof us is very different, and yet, we never have any big fights, no family feuds, we just work it out. We don’t know how our parents did it, but they get all the credit.
Mom was the heart of our family. In all things, family came first. She fought so hard to survive cancer because she didn’t want to leave us all motherless, and her greatest wish was to live to see her grandchildren. She showed us how to face life’s great challenges with courage and perseverance. She demonstrated her tremendous faith, her inner strength and her love for us always. Mom and Dad gave us all the gifts of their example of their selfless marriage and the importance of us always being there for each other.
Many years ago, Mom recited her cancer story into a tape recorder. The following is a quote from a transcription of that story: “The young priest within [the confessional in Knock] listened to my story. I was crying. We talked about Stan and the children. He asked if my faith was strong and I said it was. He said, “Mary, as you are leaving this confessional, leave the cancer behind. Go home and take care of your family. They need you.” ‘I can’t leave it here,’ I said. I was afraid of leaving it with him. He blessed me and told me to go in peace.”
She left the cancer behind. Fifty years later, after raising her children, and seeing another two generations of family who love her, she is now in her heavenly home.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Saturday, November 7, 2026, at 1 PM, at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church,1710 Hickory St, Melbourne, with visitation starting at 12:15 and remarks from the family before the service begins. A graveside service is immediately following at the St. Joseph’s Cemetery, Miller Street, Palm Bay, with a reception at Sprengergarden, 2835 Eber Blvd, West Melbourne.
