Marlene McMahon of Southold died on Nov. 27, 2017. She was 86 years old.
She was born on July 23, 1931 in Brooklyn, the daughter of A. Alfred Steinruck Jr. and Gertrude Elizabeth Pender.
She grew up in Hollis and Jamaica, Queens and attended St. Gerard’s School and Bishop McDonnell High School, graduating in 1949. Following high school, she attended Adelphi University on Long Island.
In 1950 she met Harvey V. McMahon, and they were married on May 31, 1952. In the early years of their marriage, they lived in Floral Park where their first son Brian was born in 1954 and their daughter Leslie in 1957. They moved in 1958 to East Williston to accommodate their growing family and their second son, David, was born there in 1965. The following year, the family moved to Basking Ridge, New Jersey.
She spent much of her time over the next few years taking David to various special schools and working with United Cerebral Palsy of New Jersey, the Association of Retarded Citizens of Somerset County, and the local school district to find appropriate schooling and other options for him. She served on both the ARC and UCP Boards, and was proactive in efforts to establish group homes for the disabled in Somerset County, New Jersey.
In the early 1970s, while David was at the Matheny School in Peapack-Gladstone, she took a position with the Somerset County Homebuilders’ Association. Over the years, the organization grew and she assumed a leadership role as the association executive.
Upon her retirement in 1993, she and her husband moved to Southold. She was an active member of St. Patrick’s R.C. Church in Southold for many year, and was a volunteer in its parish outreach.
She loved her friends, particularly Marilyn Scott of Cave Creek, Arizona, Constance Pardey of Bethel, Connecticut, Joan Forde of Greensboro, North Carolina, Cappy Ulsamer of Arlington, Virginia and all of whom she had known since early childhood and with whom she had remained lifelong close friends, her family said. She was an avid reader and loved to watch old movies.
Predeceased by her Harvey on Oct. 22, 2017, and her son, Brian, in October 2016, she is survived by her son, David of Warren, New Jersey, her daughter, Leslie Frank (Michael) of Spofford, New Hampshire, her granddaughter, Kimberley Salmon of Somerville, Massachusetts, and grandson, Andrew Salmon of Baltimore, Maryland and by step-granddaughter Melissa Jackson (Jonathan) of Canton, North Carolina and their son, Jayce..
A memorial Mass will be held on Thursday, Nov. 30 at 11 a.m. at St Patrick’s Church in Southold, followed by a gathering of family and friends at the family home.
Arrangements have been entrusted to Coster-Heppner Funeral Home in Cutchogue.
The family requests contributions to The Association of Retarded Citizens of Somerset County or East End Hospice.
