Marlene Marie Denecia, of Rockledge Florida, formerly of Gouverneur and Florence, South Carolina, passed away peacefully two days before her 84th birthday, on Wednesday, October 5th, 2022 in Cocoa Beach, Florida.
Funeral services will be scheduled and announced later in the spring with the Green Funeral Home in Gouverneur.
Marlene was born in Gouverneur on October 7, 1938, the daughter of Robert Merton “Mert” and Lylah (Gray) Gollaher. She graduated from Gouverneur High School.
Marlene married what would be her lifetime partner, Carl J. Denecia (Carl passed on March 26, 2022) on October 13, 1956. After about a year of living in Herzogenaurach, Germany, where Carl was stationed in the Army, they moved back to Gouverneur and remained there as valuable and active members of the community, raising two children until pushing south in the mid to late 1980’s.
Marlene was an active 4H member and Junior Leader. As a young woman, Marlene was crowned 1955 St. Lawrence County Sesqui-centennial Queen and participated in a parade in New York City where she met and was photographed with Yankees Star Hall of Fame slugger, Mickey Mantle.
Over her lifetime, Marlene held a few jobs which included working for her family at the Diner her parents built and operated on Route 11, the Circle Inn Diner, as well as various local businesses. She was a cashier at the old East Main Street P&C Grocery Store and then a bookkeeper at both Kinney Drugs (Main St) and Mercers Dairy in Natural Dam. When they moved to South Carolina, she became a restaurant manager in Florence at the Heritage Inn.
Marlene was a lifelong parish member of St. James Catholic Church in Gouverneur and an active mother of two graduates of St James Catholic School. For several years, she was a very successful director of the Gouverneur branch of the “Heart Fund”, with the American Heart Association Charity Organization.
Marlene enjoyed many pursuits and hobbies over the years including Cub Scout den mother, league bowling at Penguin Lanes, snowmobiling, camp building (and summer time life at Hickory Lake), baking, cooking, sewing, arts and crafts, painting and attending sporting events her children participated in. She even owned and drove a cherry red 1963 Ford Mustang! Later she was very involved in the Garden Club and as a long term volunteer at the hospital in Florida.
Marlene is survived by her daughter Carla J. and Carla’s husband John Kitts of Melbourne, Florida as well as her grandchildren Derek Kitts, his wife Michelle and their children (Marlene’s great grandchildren) Griffin and Graham, and by Stacy (Kitts) Wolf and her husband Ryan. Also surviving her is her son Clark James and wife, Kim Denecia of Southern England in the United Kingdom, her grandchild Jessica Denecia and her son Trystan Denecia (great grandson). She is also survived by two sisters, Joan Richardson of Rockledge, Florida and Sylvia Millard of Rochester, New York along with 10 nieces and nephews. Marlene is predeceased by her husband Carl, her parents and a brother Merton Gollaher.
Memorial donations in memory of Marlene are encouraged to St. James School, 164 E. Main Street, Gouverneur, NY 13642.