Marion E. Bodurtha Lucia

Marion Elise (Bodurtha) Lucia, 90, of Jacksonville, Florida passed away on September 24, 2015, at Haven Hospice in Orange Park. Her daughter, Valerie Pittman, was by her side when she passed and her granddaughter, Samantha, had been with her during much of her stay. Marion will be lovingly remembered by many as "Mimi" or "Mare".

Marion was born in Westfield, Massachusetts on June 25, 1925, to Stephen and Florence Bodurtha. Marion graduated from Westfield High in Westfield, Massachusetts. She studied Voice and Drama with Professor Anna M. Hamlin at Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts and graduated from the Conservatory of Music in Springfield, Massachusetts. She also graduated from United Airlines Stewardess School and from the Springfield Massachusetts Sales and Marketing School. Marion was married to Charles Edward Lucia Jr. on September 20, 1963, in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, after a whirlwind courtship that started at their 20th high school reunion. Mr. Lucia was a sharpshooter in the Marines who had been wounded during the Battle of Iwo Jima.

Marion loved new challenges and she loved to travel, both things that she managed to incorporate into her work life. She held positions with United Airlines, as a Stewardess and Cartographer, and with many major retailers including Peck & Peck, Steigers, Brooks Fashions, Milton Bradley, IBM and Proctor & Gamble. She also was a Nanny for a wealthy couple in the Hamptons, an Executive Secretary for Hanson Pattern & Mold Corp. and the host of her own weekly radio show, "Melodies by Marion".

She loved the theater, opera, horse shows, reading, sewing and singing; in her younger days she also loved skiing with friends. She was an animal lover who always had several pets, and she contributed to many animal rescue organizations. One of her favorite past-times in Massachusetts was to cut out all the lost and found ads from the local papers, paste them onto notebook pages, then visit the local shelters to take down animal descriptions (this was before the internet). She would meticulously comb through all the paperwork to reunite many lost dogs with their owners!

Marion was preceded in death by her husband, her brothers, Edward and David Bodurtha, and her sister, Marie Louise Hocker.

Marion Lucia is survived by her daughter and son-in-law, Valerie and Allen Pittman, Jacksonville, FL; two (2) grandchildren and their spouses, Allen (Amber) Pittman Jr. , Jacksonville, FL and Samantha (Cody) Chandler, Bushnell, FL; two (2) great-grandchildren, Ariyan and Alek Pittman; a sister-in-law, Betty Bodurtha; many nieces and nephews; and a (very) long time, friend, Janet Holcombe of Glastonbury, CT.

Memorial gifts may be made to Scarlet's Legacy Equine Rescue, HC 60 Box 197, Wells, NV 89835, note "In Memory of Marion Lucia".