US MARINE CORPS VETERAN This Renaissance man would never blow his own horn, so we will. Our Daddy, Michael Marchese, Jr. was born in Springfield, Massachusetts on March 1, 1928, and thus began a long, remarkable life. He passed peacefully in Mason, Ohio on June 14, 2013, surrounded by loving family and friends. Michael was the son of Michael Marchese of Castiglione Messer Marino, Italy, and Dorothy Vernon Allen of Winthrop, Massachusetts. His early interests were music, listening to the foreign language radio stations that emanated from Springfield and New York City, and sports. Those interests never waned. At Classical High School in Springfield, he was captain of both the soccer and baseball teams. He graduated With Distinction from Dartmouth College with the Class of 1949, majoring in History. He was a member of the baseball team his freshman year under coach Jeff Tesreau, a former pitcher with the New York Giants. Tesreau's signature pitch in the majors was a tantalizing spitball, apparently a skill he kept razor sharp even after he retired to become Dartmouth's coach; Daddy said Tesreau loved to pitch batting practice to his young charges, and then mockingly guffaw as Daddy and each of his teammates would, one after another, screw themselves into the ground trying in vain to hit that dancing, mesmerizing spitball. Daddy then joined the golf team, and once had the privilege of playing a match against a young North Carolina Tar Heel named Harvie Ward, who was one of the great career amateur golfers in history. "Every iron shot he hit, I thought it was going in the hole," Daddy said. Daddy also sang in the Dartmouth Glee Club, and began to experiment with a jazz guitar. He liked to talk about his favorite professor at Dartmouth, Frederick Sternfeld, who taught him Music Theory. What each of these little vignettes has in common is that, if you somehow could get him to talk about himself, Daddy always kept the stories mostly about others' abilities and accomplishments, not his. His humor was almost entirely self-deprecating. You might not know that he himself was a really terrific golfer - Fort Wayne (IN) City Publinx Champion, for years a top contender in the Fort Wayne City Championship, a perennial member of Fort Wayne's intercity golf team in the 1960's, and winner of a gaggle of club championships in Longmeadow (MA) , Fort Wayne, and Bonita Springs (FL). He broke his age a number of times starting when he was 70 years old. You also wouldn't hear from him that he was a wonderful musician. He had the gift of perfect pitch (his kids are envious to this day), and was a very good pianist - his favorite pieces to play were Chopin waltzes. He was an excellent singer, and became an outstanding student of the classical guitar, the love of his musical life. He joked that he spent far too much time practicing the guitar (under the tutelage of the famous Sophocles Papas) instead of studying while in law school at George Washington University. Papas even introduced Daddy to a friend and music business associate of his, maestro Andres Segovia (my father's musical hero), when he had stopped in Washington D.C. during a tour of the U.S. Of course he would never divulge his service in the United States Marine Corps. He upped not once, but twice, rose to the rank of Captain, and saw some frightening action in Korea, where for a time he was a forward air observer in a tiny, virtually defenseless little Piper Cub - a repeated feat of seemingly suicidal courage that astounds us. He once admitted he was every bit as afraid of getting knocked out of the sky in a mid-air collision with friendly but daredevil close air support pilots swooping around in their Corsairs and Skyraiders as he was of being felled by enemy ground fire. Hence, the phrase "close" air support, he joked. You might be surprised to learn that he had an uncanny knack with foreign languages. He was fluent in Portuguese (learned as a result of a two year stint in the Foreign Service in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), was conversant in Italian, and knew Spanish pretty well. He loved to pronounce Eastern European surnames in their proper way (a holdover from his days listening to those foreign language radio stations, and his time studying Eastern European history at Dartmouth). And unbeknownst to his children until recent months, he even spoke a little Russian, a revelation that came to light when he suddenly began conversing in the native language of one of his caretakers, a young nurse who had recently moved to America from Russia. We were flabbergasted. He would never brag that he was a pillar of his community, and one of the most respected and well known members of his profession. He worked for 30 years for the Lincoln National Life Insurance Company, first in the Law Department, then rising to Senior Vice President in charge of the company's Governmental Relations Department. His children recently discovered a large, 3-ring binder chock full of literally hundreds of retirement well wishes from fellow Lincoln employees, local, state and federal legislators of every stripe, public officials, life insurance counsel and executives of countless other life insurance companies across the country, and even the Vice President of the United States. For 16 years, he served as President of the Allen County Convention & Tourism Authority, leading the organization during the construction of Fort Wayne's prized Grand Wayne convention center. He was also a recipient of the Indiana Governor's highest civilian award, the Sagamores of the Wabash commendation. The fact of the matter is, we don't know anybody who got to know our father who didn't come away adoring him, even those without an inkling of all his successes. He simply had a way about him. He made people feel comfortable and completely at ease. Despite his intellect, talents, accomplishments, and calm self-assurance, there wasn't a pretentious bone in his body; he was the epitome of humility, diplomacy, generosity, appreciativeness and patience. A true gentleman. Just ask his caretakers and therapists at Emeritus Senior Living - they all fell in love with him the minute they met him. His family expresses deep gratitude to the staff at Emeritus and Gem City for their tireless, professional and friendly care. As you can tell, we think he was a terrific father, too. He imbued in us a thirst for knowledge, a love of music, an appreciation of other cultures and languages, and an ethic of self-reliance. His example is an extremely high bar to clear. In the father lottery, we hit the jackpot. Of course a celebration of Daddy's life would not be complete without mention of the true love of his life, our Mommy, Joan Gale Marchese. They met in Washington D.C. on a date arranged by their parents. Being the good son and daughter that they were, they agreed to go on the blind date, but weren't expecting much. When our father first reluctantly arrived at her door to pick her up for the date, she reportedly said "okay, let's get this over with." Naturally, they married less than two years later. They had a wonderful 25 years together before Mommy passed after a long battle with cancer. They loved each other dearly - each a yin to the other's yang. Michael leaves behind many loved ones: children Nina Joan Marchese, Andrea Marchese (Peter Houser), and Michael Marchese III (Nancy Marchese); seven grandchildren (Hannah Faye and Michael Marchese Hafsos; Joan and Paul Houser; and Daniel, Julia and Rachel Marchese); little sister Virginia "Ginger" Jones; extended family members; second wife Frederica Schaefer; friend Elaine Bartlett; and many, many friends, made decades ago all the way up until the last days of his life. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to his favorite charity, the Evans Scholars Foundation; or to Crossroads Hospice. To send a condolence, visit www.muellerfuneralS.com 513-398-9100
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