Obituary
MANUEL - Marie V., of Islip Terrace, passed peacefully in her sleep on Thursday, April 29 at age 91.
Maria Veronica “Marie” Manuel (nee DiMartino) was born Sept. 17, 1929 in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, the ninth and youngest child of Anthony DiMartino, a Neapolitan immigrant and performer in Italian vaudeville, and his wife Rose Claudia. Marie graduated from Girls High School in Bedford-Stuyvesant in 1947, where she was proudly elected Class Wit, and following this embarked upon careers in many fields, most notably at Chase Manhattan Bank and as a legal secretary in the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office.
In the summer of 1957, Marie married Armen Manuel, also of Brooklyn, and following the births of their son Peter in 1958 and daughter Bernadette in 1960, moved to Islip Terrace, close to Armen’s butcher shop on Montauk Highway in Amityville. Outside of her professional life, Marie was active in leading Pre-Caena and Marriage Encounter sessions at her home parish, St. Peter the Apostle Church in Islip Terrace. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, she also worked at the Turquoise Indian jewelry boutique at the South Shore Mall in Bay Shore.
During her retirement, Marie enjoyed playing mahjong with friends, shopping for all members of her family at various local malls, caring for her grandchildren as they grew, and passing the hours with her husband at Heckscher State Park in East Islip.
She was forever an enthusiastic supporter of her family and friends in their endeavors, cheering them in their successes and always being open to listening and dispensing of advice. A born conversationalist and storyteller thanks to Toastmasters meetings, no family or friend’s celebration was complete without an ever rousing, often funny, always sincere address from Marie paying tribute to the person of honor. Her inimitable warmth, quick wit, and passion for those she loved will be felt for decades to come by those whose lives she touched.
