Obituary of Marcia M. Sinagra

A tribute to MOM

by Nancy (Sinagra) Huff

Marsia Mary (Marsala) Sinagra

1/31/1930 to 1/8/2021

Delivered by a mid-wife on a cold day in January, Marsia cried heartily in the first month of the New Year and immediately became the apple of Grandpa Benny’s eye.

Marsia lived on Bay 8^th Street Brooklyn, New York and attended and graduated McKinley Middle School and New Utrecht High School until she married. Life was not easy for her having been born during the Depression with an unwell mother caring for 4 children.  Being the oldest, she helped raise her sister Jean and two brothers, Nicholas and Vito while her father worked two jobs.  She did this while going to school and working at various secretarial jobs.   

One of the stories Mom always recounted was Sunday, December 7^th, 1941, “the day that lives in infamy”. She was doing her high school homework when she heard on the radio that Pearl Harbor was bombed. She was stunned hearing that the country was now at war.

Upon returning from that war, Joseph C. Sinagra, with whom she fell in love, married Marsia on October 10, 1948 at the Church of St Rosalia located on 13 Avenue and 62^nd Street in Brooklyn (later renamed St. Rosalia-Regina Pacis Parish).  She now became known as Marcia M. Sinagra and they lived to celebrate 68 years before Joe died on October 31, 2016.

Marcia worked as a secretary until she gave birth to Nancy Ann in 1956 and Ann Catherine in 1958.  As the girls grew, Marcia went back to work as a secretary for various Brooklyn establishments such as Caterers and Real Estate agencies.  

After taking a sabbatical from work in 1980, she decided to persue a career as a legal secretary in Manhattan until retiring in 1992.

During those early married years, Marcia was active in various bowling leagues along with serving as President of the Ladies Auxiliary of the Knights of Columbus #354 (Admiral Dewey Council) from 1965 to 1967.

It didn’t take long in her early married life to change her two-week vacation to the same resort each year, Pleasant Acres, Catskills, NY, to embark to other areas of the US teaching her daughters about the country’s history.  This was the groundwork that led her to become the most admired trip leader for the senior clubs at St. Ephrem’s and St. Patrick’s in Brooklyn, NY shortly after she retired. She made a couple of trips back to the Old Country (Sicily), many trips to Canada visiting her large family of cousins, and in her late years cruising in the Caribbean.

Mom survived the great Depression of 1929-39, WWII 1939-45, the Korean War of 1950-53, the Vietnam War 1955-75, the Great blackout of the Eastern seaboard in 1965, the Black Friday stock crash of 1987, the COVID Pandemic in 2020 and now just days before dying, she witnessed another day of infamy, the storming of the Capitol building on January 6, 2021. Mom was very cognizant about living through another historic event because she kept saying it can’t be true and they will be punished.  Just two days later, she died quietly in her sleep.

Mom always said her two daughters were her greatest gift and blessing of which she was most proud.  She fought hard with both her families to send her daughters to college since they did not believe in girls’ advanced education and believed that their place was to only raise a family.  Her daughters are who they are because of Mom’s love and encouragement and she didn’t think twice to brag about them whether they were present or not.  SHE was the greatest blessing not only being a beloved mother but also a best friend always being there for all the ups and downs of her daughters’ lives.  She will forever be in their hearts.

As a former resident of Bay Ridge, Brooklyn NY and a current resident of Monroe Township NJ, her death was preceded by her siblings but she is survived by two daughters Nancy A Huff and Ann C Garvey: and one son-in-law, Stephen C. Garvey, Jr.  She will be buried in St. John’s Cemetery in Queens NY on Tuesday, January 12^th, 2021.