Marie Coogan

Marie Blanck Coogan, longtime Yonkers resident and devoted member of the Monastery Church of the Sacred Heart, died peacefully at her home at the Fountains at RiverVue in Tuckahoe, New York, on December 31, 2017. She was ninety-two years old.

Wife of the late Fred Coogan, mother of three, and grandmother of five, Marie always found a way to improve the lives of those in her community. During her tenure as a floor supervisor at Andrus Retirement Community in Hastings-on-Hudson (now Andrus on Hudson), she worked to create a comfortable home for the residents. At St. John’s Riverside Hospital in Yonkers, she delighted in assisting new families by volunteering in the nursery. As a volunteer at Sacred Heart, she founded and managed the Family Closet Thrift Shop, which provided a dignified and affordable place to shop in her community. She also served as a Eucharistic Minister and delivered the Eucharist to homebound fellow parishioners.

But her selfless spirit of service transcended these special institutions. Marie treasured her community and especially her family. She met her beloved husband Fred at Gorton High School in Yonkers from which they both graduated in the class of 1942. They started dating after the war while working at International Paper Company in New York City and were happily married for fifty-eight years until Fred’s death in 2007.

Marie was a lifelong amateur photographer and an enthusiastic traveler. She and Fred loved their annual visits to the Greenbrier in West Virginia, and Marie was always eager to replicate some portion of its lovely gardens and decor in the family home. Once she and Fred discovered how much they enjoyed Europe, they always had a plan in the works for their next adventure.

For her daughters and grandchildren, she created a home filled with music, flowers, and laughter. We will always be inspired by her generosity of spirit, her good humor and humility, her boundless ability to forgive, and her unconditional love. And no tribute to her would be complete without acknowledging her enviable eye and sense of style.

Marie was predeceased by her husband Fred and her brother Bill. She is survived by her daughter Marjorie and son-in-law Robert MacAllister of Manhattan, daughter Barbara and son-in-law Salvatore Bordanaro of Landenberg, Pennsylvania, and daughter Eileen and son-in-law Dominic Visco of Scarsdale. She is also survived by her grandchildren Julie, Kate, and Scott MacAllister, and Celia and Kayla Visco. Marie’s family is especially grateful to Denise Ellis and Sheila Parchment for their compassion and devotion.

Visitation will be held at Whalen & Ball Funeral Home at 168 Park Avenue in Yonkers, New York, on Friday, January 5, 2018, from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. A funeral Mass will follow at the Monastery Church of the Sacred Heart at 110 Shonnard Place in Yonkers at 11:00 a.m. In lieu of flowers, the family will be grateful for donations to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.