Marybeth Monaghan

Born in Norristown, PA, she was the oldest daughter of the late Dorothy (Rapp) and Leroy Hill and notably the granddaughter of Marion Rapp with whom she spent most summers at Barnegat Light on Long Beach Island, New Jersey.

Marybeth was a Montessori Teacher for over 30 years at Montessori Academy of Pennsylvania; she also created and ran the extremely popular and successful before-and-after school Fundays’ program. Her last teaching position was at Centre Square Montessori School and Academy from which she retired in 2003. Mary had a profound positive impact on thousands of children and families throughout her teaching career. With love, wisdom, and guidance at the very center of her teaching philosophy, she meaningfully touched the lives of many students over the years and maintained many of those relationships well into adulthood. Mary was the kind of teacher students remembered--forever!

Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived - that is to have succeeded.” This is the true measure of a successful life, well-lived. Mary made every life she touched ”breathe easier” from her beautiful family and dear friends to the thousands of precious children whom she helped to shape at Montessori Academy of Pennsylvania. She created the most beautiful legacy of love for all the people who were blessed to know her.

She was a member of the American Montessori Society and the Montessori Association Internationale-USA. Additionally, she was a long-standing social Member of the Friendship Hook and Ladder Fire Co. in Boyertown.

Marybeth is survived by her devoted husband Joseph T. Monaghan, Jr. and four loving children, Scott J. Monaghan of Mountville, PA; Patrick T. husband of Anna Monaghan of Seattle WA; Joseph T. III husband of Lori A. Monaghan of St. Petersburg, FL; Tracey L. wife of John R. Gee of Bala Cynwyd, PA. She is survived by three loving siblings Dorothy Asbert of Royersford, PA, Susan Jelesiewicz of Limerick, PA and Leroy Hill, Jr. of Myrtle Beach, SC; Along with six loving grandchildren Whitney Monaghan, Kyle Monaghan, Thomas Monaghan, Elizabeth Gee, David Monaghan, and John Christian Gee, and six loving great-grandchildren and one great-grandson on the way.

Marybeth was the most wonderful blessing to everyone and the champion of all the lives she touched! We will cherish her forever and miss her dearly!

Relatives and friends are invited to Marybeth’s Life Celebration and Visitation on Tuesday September 16th from 9:30 AM to 10:45 AM. at Most Blessed Sacrament Church, 610 Pine St., Bally, PA, 19503. It will be followed by a mass of Christian Burial which will be celebrated at 11:00 AM. Family and Friends are invited to join the family at La Massaria at Bella Vista Golf Course 2901 Fagleysville Rd. Gilbertsville, PA 19525 for food and fellowship after the service.

In lieu of flowers, contributions in Marybeth's memory to ALSAC/St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105 or stjude.org would be greatly appreciated.

First and foremost, our mother, Marybeth Monaghan, was a servant.

Charles Dickens said, "Mankind was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were, all, my business. The deals of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!” He might very well have been talking about our mother and how she lived her life. We have not met a person who knew her who was not in some way helped by her.

Our mother was an amazing example of kindness, compassion, and awareness to us all. The Christian charity in her heart was universal and sincere! She was an example for us all and was

a servant of humanity. Charles Dickens we are sure is welcoming her to Heaven as a kindred soul.

Our mother lived her life beautifully in extreme meaningful interactions with life: truth, beauty, and love! Honestly, we don’t know how she made it through most days because everything to her was priority ONE.

She lived and loved more deeply than most, and the sensations of life were precious to her:

• The sun on her face was softer and warmer,

• The storm on her horizon more dramatic!

• The sand in her toes was more wonderful,

• Her ocean was more salty and refreshing.

• Food, looked more beautiful and tasted more delicious to her.

• She was a wonderful cook and an appreciative dinner guest.

• Flowers were more fragrant and delicate to her.

• And hugs were more significant and special to her because, most of all, people were more important to our mother. She looked right into a person’s heart and saw them with more charity, clarity and honesty. She would talk to anyone from the Red Knight in Warwickshire Castle to the homeless man on the sidewalk in Honolulu.

Indeed, it was plain to see that “Mankind was [her] business!”

There aren’t enough exclamation marks in the infinity of cyberspace to truly capture the enthusiastic delight she found in life and people. God must have smiled to see how she loved His gift of life, and her passing is a great loss to us all, but the void is filled with her memory and her example.

She taught us to live well and love completely…, to be kinder and more compassionate, and we will forever see her sitting on the ocean beach sands, the sun on her face and the wind wafting sea oat fragrance through her hair--completely in love with the sensations of being alive.

“Mother, you have succeeded a billion times over!”

Our mother was also a great and sensitive lover of words. She had a poet’s soul and a natural gift for rhyme! She devoured books voraciously, and if anyone was ever meant to be a teacher, it was her. We hope this poem captures something of her essence:

Nanny is Forever at the Beach

By Mr. M. (son)

Barnegat Light was her touchstone of peace,

So Nanny forever has gone to the beach.

There she will find beautiful driftwood lying

As the ebb tide, winds, and waves are vying,

And her tired lungs will breathe easy again,

And her body will be whole and her heart content.

And the ocean will retreat leaving shells, and sea glass,

And the gulls will be heard above children’s bright laughs.

And she will see eternity with her weather eye

And dark clouds flank speed--full sail and goodbye.

But as fiercely as the storm hit the bereft beach

The clouds will away, and the sun come in reach

Because life--and after--could and should be better:

Her Jenny, and her offspring will now live forever;

Her leaves will change color all year round,

And the waves on her beach will forever sound,

And the mountains’ fresh air will be her breath

And those who knew her will be forever blessed.

And her family will gather with her every holiday,

And her oldest best friends will forever stay.

And her true heart will forever beat strong,

And the words of her life will be a long, sweet song,

And her legs will propel her along the endless shoreline

And she’ll be strong and fierce for the rest of time.

And she’ll be listening to us like a guardian angel,

So we’ll remember her often and talk when we’re able.

In this world, the best any of us can hope for is to be fairly judged

And remembered well by those we loved.

Every child should have an advocate like our mother,

The champion of the poor and those who suffer.

She was a fierce warrior who stood long in the fight

To defend the downtrodden with mercy and might.

She was intelligent, loving, and caring,

Passionate, funny, kind, and daring.

She was a child of magic and of the beach

Who became a young mother and learned how to teach,

And she earned the right to forever dance freely

To rest, laugh, and love on the sands of eternity.

She gave us life and created our core

And the last thing she said to us was, “I love you more!”

So, for us—forever--she’ll be at the shore

At Barnegat Light forever more.

We love and miss you, Nanny.