Marion Duffy Dumont

AGAWAM - Our mother, Marion Evelyn Duffy DuMont, born on January 22, 1924 in Albany, N.Y., passed peacefully on July 8, 2016, surrounded by her family and beloved dog, Abby.

The daughter of Elizabeth Wicks Duffy and John Duffy, Mom was predeceased by her husband of 50 years, Alonzo DuMont (Al), and her sister, Ruth Logan, and survived by daughters Beth Chafetz (Mel), Darcy DuMont, and Dana DuMont (Scott Taylor); grandchildren Elana Chafetz (Mike Sperber), Jessie Carleton (Johnny), Elizabeth DuMont McCaffrey, and Aidan DuMont McCaffrey; and great-grandchildren Cy and Olive Carleton and Ben, Talia, and Chana Sperber.

Mom grew up in Albany, New York. After graduating from SUNY Albany with a B.Ed, she taught first in East Springfield and then in Edmeston, NY. She met Dad while teaching in Edmeston and they married in the spring of 1947.  They bought a 100 year old farmhouse in the village on eleven acres of land where they raised their three girls. She had a few more teaching jobs and received her M.Ed from SUNY Oneonta, but focused on homemaking and her creative efforts.

Mom learned country ways while working as a team with Dad on family projects. Dad cultivated a huge garden and Mom prepared, froze, canned, pickled, and jellied garden vegetables and fruit, carrying us through the winter. Dad built and refinished furniture and Mom created upholstery to cover.  Dad tapped maple trees and Mom boiled down the sap to make syrup. They worked together to plan and carry out our family camping adventures, including several trips across the U.S.

Mom was an accomplished baker of pies, cakes, and cookies. She once, famously, baked eleven different pies for one Christmas dinner: apple, cherry, cherry cream, blueberry, raspberry, banana cream, chocolate cream, pumpkin, lemon merengue, strawberry rhubarb, and mince pies were all on the menu.  Her paper-thin chocolate oatmeal cookies would melt in your mouth.

Mom was an artist: drawing, painting, sewing, and quilting were all within her repertoire. A perfectionist, she could commonly be seen tearing out and resewing seams or buttonholes that were not up to her standards. She delighted in creating toys, clothes and quilts for her family and was still at it at the age of 90, when she sewed dresses for her 3 newborn great-granddaughters. She made at least 40 quilts over the course of her life, using both traditional and original designs. Mom also drew and painted portraits of family members and hand-painted decorative designs on our furniture. And she loved to attend museums, plays and other arts activities with her family.

Mom also loved music and loved to dance, often reminiscing about swing dancing as a teen and square dancing during her country years. She enjoyed listening and dancing to music around the house, even into her 90's - always preferring jazzy tunes with a danceable beat.

She and Dad moved back to the city -- Guilderland, New York -- in 1980. After Dad passed away in 1997, Mom moved to Amherst, MA where she lived for ten years before moving to the Quail Run retirement home in Agawam, MA.

Mom had a wry sense of humor and an irresistible laugh. She enjoyed reading mysteries, books in French, and Sierra Club Magazine. She was a liberal Democrat, who gave to good causes regularly.

She was a resolute and determined person who gamely weathered many of the health challenges she faced, bouncing back quickly from multiple falls, breaks and other hospital visits.

A private memorial service will be held by the family. In lieu of flowers, gifts in honor of Marion can be made to the Massachusetts Chapter of the Sierra Club or to the Agawam Dog Owners Group, PO Box 539, Agawam, MA 01001. New England Funeral & Cremation Center, LLC 25 Mill Street, Springfield has been entrusted with the arrangements. Visit www.nefcc.net

We invite you to send a message of condolence to the DuMont family at www.nefcc.net .