Obituary: Marjorie Noel Keeley
Marjorie Noel Keeley
PORTLAND – Marjorie Noel Keeley, 103, died Aug. 25, 2026, following a brief illness.
She was born and raised in Brooklyn, N.Y., the daughter of James Patrick and Lillian Dorothea (Kenney) McLaughlin.
She graduated from Bishop McDonnell High School (1939) and Grace Institute (1940) and joined W.R. Grace & Co. following completion of her studies.
She enlisted in the United States Navy Waves in 1943 and attended Air Traffic Control School in Atlanta. She was assigned to Brunswick Naval Air Station where she was one of four women who were the first group of Waves to arrive. They were met with curiosity and skepticism but soon proved their capabilities. While there, she met fellow air traffic controller Joseph “Joe” Keeley. They married following discharge in 1946 and settled in his hometown of Portland.
They bought land in North Deering next to Joe’s parents’ home and with the help of friends, family and a few professionals, built their first house. Joe had a natural talent for construction and was undaunted by this challenge. She approached decorating with thrift and ingenuity, whether it was sewing silk drapes from surplus parachutes or refashioning Joe’s wooden mustering out trunk into a coffee table. Eventually they built a larger house on an adjoining parcel to accommodate their growing family. They had already welcomed her widowed mother into their home and the three generations lived together for 30 years. Her childhood included summers spent in upstate New York and New England. Her mother subscribed to the Farm Journal, where she found Depression era rentals for her seven children to escape the city and play in the fields and woods.
Those happy childhood memories led her and her husband to purchase a small camp on Watchic Lake in Standish in 1957 where they continued the tradition of living more simply and close to nature during the summer months. She picked berries, baked pies and swam almost every day.
She was active in the St. Joseph’s Church community, first as a parent in the school her five children attended and later as a bookkeeper for the Church and as a Sodality member. She was part of a parish team that sponsored an extended Vietnamese refugee family. She helped them with practical life skills and emotional support and remained a friend of the family until the time of her death. When she was 87, she began to volunteer once a week at the St. Vincent de Paul Soup Kitchen. She was inspired by her fellow volunteers and the guests they served.
She was a master of many domestic arts; some were born of necessity, but others were an expression of creativity. She sewed her own draperies and slipcovers, knitted, did needlework and later took up rug hooking. She searched thrift shops for wool that she could work into original rug designs and she tackled holiday decorating with zest. She shopped year-round for prizes for her annual Easter Egg hunt, which she held for her adult children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. As they grew, the value of the more than a hundred prizes grew too, but everyone knew that the hunt was more about laughter and togetherness than any prize.
She was a lifelong learner and patron of libraries. When she could no longer read books, she was sustained by the Talking Books program of the Maine State Library. She enjoyed attending the Portland Symphony with her daughter-in-law as their special activity. She played the piano and her home was full of music. She and her husband were lifelong dance partners and moved with grace on the dance floor.
She was an accomplished cook. Into her 90s, she could turn out a turkey dinner for 25. Many family feasts were produced on short notice from her tiny camp kitchen and enjoyed outside on picnic tables. Whether at the lake or around the dining room table, the meal was not complete until a game had been played. Each family member, regardless of age, was welcome to play and learn. She encouraged competition but required good sportsmanship.
She remained physically active all her life. She hiked, swam, gardened and walked the three-mile round trip to daily Mass for many years. She could often be seen walking with her lifelong friend, Hazel Karatsanos.
She enjoyed unique, engaged relationships with all of her children and grandchildren, each according to their interests and abilities. She considered motherhood the most important occupation any woman could have. She started a creative writing project for her grandchildren in which she and each grandchild contributed a chapter to a serialized story. She typed and circulated those stories for years.
Through the boisterous household of eight people to the quieter later years, the pillars of her life were faith and family. After 74 years of marriage, Joe died in 2020. Her children’s care allowed her to continue to live in their home, surrounded by happy reminders of the life they had built.
She is survived by her children, Jane Dascanio and her husband Peter of Portland, Virginia Bergson and her husband Robert of Georgetown, Mass., Loretta Tracy and her husband Brent of Elk Grove, Calif., Irene Keeley and her husband Charles Chalko of Hingham, Mass. and Patrick Keeley and his wife Catherine of Portland. She leaves grandchildren Anthony Dascanio, Maura Eaves, Meghan Ellsworth, Emily Garrett, Brendan Bergson and Margaret Cataldo; and great-grandchildren, Hannah and Nichole Dascanio, Bryan Eaves, Charlotte Ellsworth, Claire, Charles, and Bridget Garrett, Grace, Noah and Jack Bergson and Finn Cataldo. She is also survived by many nieces and nephews.
In addition to her husband, she was predeceased by her infant son, Joseph Keeley; granddaughter, Lillian Chalko; and siblings Katherine Hornby, Marie McLaughlin, Winifred Desfosse, Joseph McLaughlin, Richard McLaughlin and Regina Marsh.
Visiting hours will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 31, at Jones, Rich & Barnes Funeral Home, 199 Woodford St., Portland. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 1, at St. Joseph’s Church, 673 Stevens Ave., Portland. Burial will be at Evergreen Cemetery in Portland. A reception will follow.
Please visit http://www.jonesrichandbarnes.com to sign Marjorie’s online guest book.
Donations in her memory may be made to
Sisters of Life
38 Montebello Rd.
Suffern, NY 10901 or
St. Vincent DePaul Soup Kitchen
307 Congress St.,
Portland, ME 04101
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