Marion (Burns) Smith

Marion (Burns) Smith, 102, of Blairsville, formerly of Hillside, died Sunday, June 11, 2017.

Born February 8, 1915 in Manhattan, New York, she was the daughter of James Edward Burns and Sarah “Sally” Johnson Burns of New York City. She attended from Manhattan Public School 59.

She met her husband, the late Albert Smith, of Hillside, when he went to New York in the early 1930s to work. Their daughter Marian was born in New York. They moved back to Hillside before their second child, Calvert, was born.

Albert worked in construction, eventually forming his own paving company, Smith’s Blacktop Paving of Hillside, and Marion supported him in those endeavors.

While she was a mother to only two children, many nieces and nephews and neighbor children, and later her grandchildren, could always find a snack and a warm welcome at her home. She would frequently escort a whole group of kids to Derry to go to the movies—they took the bus from Hillside, and occasionally the family dog would follow them and also try to board the bus.

She enjoyed baking and canning from the plentiful gardens and apple trees at home, and passed the time in the evenings knitting afghans, scarves, hats and mittens for family members. Her baking skills came to full fruition at Thanksgiving and Christmas when the entire family gathered around the large dining room table to feast on her home-cooked meals.

For a long period of time, her husband allowed the county election bureau to have a polling place at his business on old Route 217, and Marion was recognized by the county for voting in every election for 50 consecutive years.

Marion also enjoyed going ballroom dancing with her husband and many friends from Derry and Blairsville area, traveling to McKeesport and other venues each week.

She was a resident of Keeper of the Flame, Blairsville, since 2010. Her hobbies included playing bingo at the home every week, doing the daily crossword and ready mystery novels. Her love of reading has been lifelong, as she recounted how she would walk the few blocks to the library in New York to borrow books, spend her time reading, then rush to finish chores before her mother came home from work. She also helped care for her sisters.

Marion lived in Hillside until 2010, when she moved to Keeper of the Flame, Morewood Towers, Blairsville.

Marion was predeceased by her two sisters, Beatrice Morales, and her husband Frank, and Florence Traina, and her husband, Peter, of New York City; her husband Albert Smith, who died in 1991; her granddaughter, Jacqueline Opatka Reed and her niece, Carole Stevens, who lived in California.

Surviving are her children, Marian (Ron) Opatka and Calvert (Joyce) Smith; her grandchildren Kim (Thomas) Metzgar and Skip (Cher) Smith; great-grandchildren Cierra Skye Smith and Maia Layne Smith and John “Tyler” Reed, all of Hillside; her nephews Nick (Marianne) Morales and Peter (Barbara) Traina of New York City; her niece Jean (Jim) Gordon of New York City; many great-nephews and great-nieces, as well as her extended family of caregivers at Keeper of the Flame.

Respecting Marion's final wishes, there will be no public viewing. A brief memorial service on Wednesday, June 14, for immediate family, will be conducted by Rev. Philip M. Kanfush, O.S.B., of Saint Vincent Archabbey in Blairsville. She will be interred in Cole’s Cemetery, Derry, next to her husband, Albert.