Maria Luisa Marchi, wife of the late Republican state Sen. John Marchi, a woman who embodied the spirit of giving selflessly to her husband, family and those she held most dear, died Thursday in her Ward Hill home. She was 87.
The Marchis met in Lucca, Italy, in 1947, the town where Mr. Marchi had been vacationing. He was 26, and Maria Luisa only 16.
The former Maria Luisa Davini, who possessed a stunning level of social grace and etiquette, and the future senator would marry in Lucca on Nov. 14, 1948, in the church of St. Andrea, the house of worship within walking distance of Villa Davini in Gattaiola, a village just outside Lucca where Maria Luisa and her family lived. A reception followed in the banquet room of the exquisite family country estate.
Following the wedding, the Marchis came to the United States and settled on Ward Hill. For a time, they relocated to West Brighton, but eventually returned to the same Ward Hill home that had been owned by the Marchi family.
The couple visited Italy at least once each year and when they celebrated their golden wedding anniversary in 1998, they were feted at a festive gathering hosted by Maria Luisa’s sister-in-law, Lilliana Davini, in her home in Gattaiola, an area renowned for banking and the manufacturing of olive oil.
The senator, who served for more than half-a-century and was one of the longest-serving state lawmakers in United States history, who advocated for Staten Island’s secession from New York City, once remembered that on the day of his wedding there was a soccer game between Lucca and Florence, and that they honeymooned in Trieste, Rome, Venice and Florence.
While in Florence at the time, the couple spent time with their longtime friend, the late novelist Sinclair Lewis, the first American author to receive a Nobel Prize.
Interestingly, through the years the Marchis shared their anniversary date with the late Borough President Al Maniscalco and his wife, Grace. The senator said Maniscalco was one of his oldest and dearest friends.
Each Sunday, Marchi family dinners were a highly anticipated event. It was a time when family members — and oftentimes neighbors and friends — would sit, converse and take part in a magnificent feast with all those with whom the Marchis so generously opened their home.
And after spending all day in the kitchen preparing and crafting an Italian dinner, Mrs. Marchi would gracefully host her guests with kindness, humor and wit. Her mission was to ensure family was taken care of and to provide strength, courage and support. Family meant everything to her — and she meant everything to them.
The Marchis were married for 61 years until Sen. Marchi’s passing in 2009.
Throughout the years the Marchis visited Italy often. Their daughter, Joan Migliori, who married in 1971, took up residence there for seven years.
“They would go back and forth frequently,” said Joan, adding, “We had family there and we would often visit my mother’s family in Lucca and my father’s family in a town called Udine, in Northern Italy just above Venice in Trieste.
“Basically my mom was active in the American Committee on Italian Migration (ACIM) and with the Girl Scouts, but her aim in life was to take care of the family and her husband." Joan said. "She was the family matriarch who we all turned to for love and support and she was really the boss of the household. I loved her dearly and she will be sorely missed.”
Mrs. Marchi was a member of the ACIM along with Giovanna Scano, a 1988 Advance Woman of Achievement, and former leader for the Staten Island division. Mrs. Scano’s mother and Sen. Marchi’s father were brother and sister.
In speaking of her mother, daughter Aline Balbas quoted Amurta Khanvilkar: “’I am closest to my mother, as she is my rock, my pillar of strength and my world. Not only has she stood by me through all times, happy, sad and otherwise, but there has even been moments when I had completely lost hope, and her immense belief in me had lifted me up.’ That was my mom in a nutshell.”
“This quote by Madeline L’Engle also reminds me of my nonna, said granddaughter Stefania Migliori: “My nonna seems to have had the ability to stand firmly on the rock of her past while living completely and unregretfully in the present.”
Said Francesca Migliori, Mrs. Marchi’s granddaughter: “My nonna, my queen bee, the glue that held my family together passed away Thursday. I found pictures that I love of her so much that I wanted to share and I’m flying home for a week to be with my family.”
“My aunt was a remarkably beautiful person,” said nephew Dr. Robert Marchi. “She embodied the best qualities of the traditional Italian matriarch with the independent spirit and self-confidence of the modern woman. She has always been a role model and the quintessential definition of class and grace.” He added: “Her family was the most important part of her life and she was the rock they could always turn to and rely upon. I believe it was her simplicity, sincerity and down-to-earth personality that earned her the love, admiration and respect of all who knew her.”
QUOTES FROM COMMUNITY LEADERS
"Maria Luisa was a special woman who lived her life caring for others. She and her husband were inseparable, wonderful people who belonged together. I felt honored to be a part of her inner circle. She made me feel like family, and I treasured our friendship. She will be missed,” said community activist Norma D’Arrigo, wife of the late Surrogate Charles D’Arrigo.
Kathryn Krause Rooney, an Advance Woman of Achievement Class of 2011, who served as special counsel to Sen. Marchi for many years, knew the family personally as well as professionally.
“Mrs. Marchi was a remarkable woman,” Rooney remembered. “Many people knew her as the wife of a senator, but she was a force in her own right. She loved life, loved to laugh, loved to cook, loved to argue and she was a partner in every way with her husband. She will be deeply missed.”
“Sen. John Marchi and I were very close," former Borough President James Molinaro said. “We had tremendous discussions over the years. And in later years we would go to church with our wives in the chapel at Bayley Seton Hospital. Maria Luisa would accompany John to Albany, so he had a family life when he was away. After Sen. Marchi’s passing, Kate Rooney asked me to give the eulogy at his funeral mass. Maria Luisa was a wonderful woman,” Molinaro said. "And she was always by his side. And you never heard a bad word out of her mouth about anyone.”
“On my honeymoon in Italy in 1963, I met John, Maria Luisa and her mother. We had dinner in Florence,” remembered Alice Diamond, wife of late Advance Publisher Richard E. Diamond. “I’ve only known Maria Luisa as a lovely, wonderful person. A lady of great style and kindness,” she said. “What stands out is what kind of a wife she was. She traveled to Albany every week with John. She just wanted to be there to support him and help him do his wonderful work. It is with great admiration that I will always remember her.”
"John Marchi represented Staten Island for over half-a-century with integrity, brilliance and consummate class,” said Judge Eric Vitaliano, Senior United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Judge Vitaliano served in the New York State Assembly when John Marchi was state senator.
“Maria Louisa was at his side every step of the way, whether on Staten Island, in Albany or their beloved Lucca,” Vitaliano said. “Her unwavering support for John and his commitment to Staten Island was matched only by her warmth, grace, faith and devotion to family and friends. An era closes with her passing. As we pray for her soul, we also pray that many will emulate the lives she and John lived."
“Staten Island and the Marchis have lost a gracious and elegant member of the family,” said Fred Cerullo, former South Shore city councilman and now president of the Grand Central Partnership. “Her love of our entire community was always evident, whether she was attending a local event or discussing issues of importance about our past and our future. I will always remember the many, many times all of our families were together over the years, particularly when my grandmother, Nannie, and Mrs. Marchi would talk about both Staten Island and Italy. Special memories for me and my family. My thoughts and prayers go out to the entire Marchi family today and always.”
In hearing of Mrs. Marchi’s passing, former Borough President Ralph Lamberti noted:
“She was the ultimate lady. Maria Luisa and her husband, in our record of where husbands and wives stand, were at the top of elected officials. My wife, Susan, admired her tremendously.”
State Sen. Diane Savino also commented in hearing of Maria Luisa passing: “My deepest condolences, Joan, to you and your family on the loss of your mother. She was a beautiful woman.”
And Leslie Fogg, granddaughter Stefania Migliori’s close friend from elementary and high school, who was considered part of the Marchi family and who served an internship in Albany with Sen. Marchi, and who is now an attorney in Buffalo, said:
“I look back at the time I spent with Maria Luisa Marchi, I am so grateful to have known her. I am fortunate that without question she opened her heart and home to me when her granddaughter, Stefania, and I became friends. She was what I strive to be: A matriarch who embodied strength, beauty, intelligence, kindness, wit and humor. The memory of weekly and holiday family dinners watching Mrs. Marchi in the kitchen, trying to learn her magic, will always stay with me.”
Fogg continued: “And the best part of those dinners was sitting and talking to Mrs. Marchi at the end when all the guests were gone. Spending time with Mr. and Mrs. Marchi, it was clear they were partners who gave strength to one another. Where he was, she was always by his side to make sure he had what he needed and, therefore, his successes were equally hers. I will always have the memory of her smile and hearing her say my name with her beautiful Italian accent.”
Mrs. Marchi is survived by her daughters, Joan Migliori and Aline Balbas, son-in-law, Bert Balbas, granddaughters Stefania Migliori and her husband, Maico Barsuglia, Francesca Migliori, and great-grandchildren, Giuseppe Dell’Aversano and Seble and Kena Barsuglia.
Funeral arrangements are being handled by Harmon Home for Funerals, West Brighton. Visiting will be Tuesday from 4 to 8 p.m. A funeral mass is set for Wednesday at 11 a.m. in Our Lady of Good Counsel R.C. Church, Tompkinsville. Burial will follow in St. Peter’s Cemetery, West Brighton.
In lieu of flowers, donations to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital and/or the Alzheimer’s Association would be most appreciated.
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