Olive Cecilia Marcinkowski
Born on October 28, 1927 in Forest Hills, New YorkDeparted December 3, 2022, in Melbourne, Florida
Olive Cecilia (Traynor) Marcinkowski, 95 years young, passed away on Saturday,
December 3rd in Melbourne, Florida after suffering an injury 2 months prior. While the last 2 months of her life were difficult, she passed quickly and peacefully. Olive was predeceased by her husband of 54 years, Edwin R. Marcinkowski, her identical twin sister Anne G (Traynor) Vonick and her niece Beth (Elizabeth Vonick) LaCour.
Born in Forest Hills, NY, she was the daughter of John and Mary Edna (Kelly) Traynor. Olive attended school there with her sister Anne and spent their summers driving north to New England to visit Moosehead, Sebago and Newfound Lakes. They went on to be roommates at The College of New Rochelle where Olive graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Mathematics with a Minor in Art. Like her father, she pursued a career in education and worked for many years as a First Grade teacher on Long Island. These experiences brought hilarious anecdotes to her family.
In 1974 Olive and her family moved to New Hampshire where she lived until her
husband passed away in 2006. There, they embraced life in New England with vim and vigor; learning to ski, shovel snow and deal with the long cold winters along with enjoying the beauty of the four seasons New England offered.
Olive and Edwin also spent 35 summers on Candlewood Lake in New Fairfield, Ct. where her sister and family did the same. Those were wonderful years and were filled with hosting family reunions for 10 years – memories that are cherished by her family to this day. After retirement she and her husband would pack up the car and drive to Florida for a couple of months to visit their son Thomas and his family, her sister Anne, and other friends and family. They also had several very memorable and wonderful trips and cruises throughout the world which they thoroughly enjoyed.
Olive was blessed with a wonderful and long life. She cherished her time with family in New York, Connecticut, New Hampshire and Maine and in her last home at Buena Vida Estates in Florida. Here she rediscovered painting, exercise classes, continued her love of playing bridge, and enjoyed the company of many friends she made over her 9 years there. She was forever grateful having been spared the types of illnesses and hardships that affect so many. She had a great life and perhaps this is why she wore that incredible smile that she will always be remembered for.
Olive will always be remembered as a devout and faithful Roman Catholic. As well as a regular mass attendee, she did much to help others throughout her adult life including volunteering for the Nashua food pantry and delivering food to those in need, taking a Vietnamese refugee family into her home and helping them learn the English language, get jobs and be able to move into their own home. She assisted with the vision and development of the Hospice House in Merrimack NH and volunteered for many activities at her church including becoming a Eucharistic minister, delivering communion to the
homebound, serving on the parish council and teaching Sunday school in her home. She and her husband were key supporters and developers of the Merrimack Senior Center and assisted with the annual operation of and community use of this local senior center.
She is survived by her three children: son Thomas and his wife Marie and their son Matthew of Melbourne, Florida; daughter Donna and her spouse Eileen Murphy of West Melbourne, Florida; and daughter Mary and her spouse Kelley Tucker of Eliot, Maine and many nieces and nephews.
Following cremation, there will be a memorial mass at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Melbourne, Florida on Saturday, January 7th, 2023 at 1:00PM. A reception will be held following mass at Buena Vida Estates, 2129 West New Haven Ave.,West Melbourne, Florida from 3:00-5:00PM. Burial will occur at Last Rest Cemetery, Merrimack, NH in the summer of 2023 following a mass at Our Lady of Mercy Church in Merrimack, NH.
Arrangements are being handled by the Brownlie-Maxwell Funeral Home in Melbourne, Florida (https://brownliemaxwell.com).