Marilyn O'Dowd Cooley

Marilyn Elsie ODowd Cooley died of congestive heart failure in her sleep Saturday, November 19, 2016, at her home on Maple Bay, Oneida Lake, where she had lived since 1955.She was born in Utica September 17, 1926 to Lena Maud Schultz and Dennis Patrick ODowd. The family lived a few years on Thomas Street, off Uticas Proctor Parkway, then for several decades on Cornelia Street, on the edge of downtown.Marilyns grammar school was nearby but she had a hike of a mile or more to her high school, Utica Free Academy, rushing home for lunch, then back to classes. She was a proud graduate of UFA in January 1944, then she got a clerical job at Griffiss Air Force Base, Rome. World War II was on.Living at home, she saved her money so she could go to college, enrolling at Utica College of Syracuse University in September 1947. There she met Jerome Oliver Cooley, one of the hundreds of veterans who swarmed Utica College when it opened the previous September.Marilyn and Jerome transferred to Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wis., for journalism degrees. They married in Utica in 1952 at Marilyns parish church, St. Francis de Sales, and settled in Syracuse.Marilyn was editor of Crouse-Hinds Co.s Family Circle newsmagazine, then did public relations for Easter Seals and the Red Cross. She was a public relations specialist for the Syracuse-Onondaga County Planning Agency for several years before moving to the Liverpool Public Library. She also volunteered for Liverpool is the Place and Dollars for Scholars.She was a postcard dealer at her daughter Annes (and Kathleen Czerwiaks) Olde Liverpool Shoppes and she edited the Central New York Postcard Club newsletter for Sandra Drake. She wrote Our First Hundred Years, a history of the Syracuse and Onondaga County Chapter of the American Red Cross. The books publisher, Congressman George Wortley, offered her a job.Marilyn served a term as president of the Syracuse chapter of Theta Sigma Phi (now Women in Communications, Inc.). She was an assistant scoutmaster for her daughters. A lifelong Roman Catholic, she was a religious education volunteer at St. Francis of Assisi Church in Bridgeport.Surviving Marilyn are her husband, Jerome; son Jon (Deborah), daughter Shawna (William) Gunter, daughter Anne (Kathleen Czerwiak), granddaughters Tara Mellor, Kelsey Holbrook, Mackenzie Cooley, and Lauren Cooley; great-grandson Evan Mellor and great- granddaughter Charlie Holbrook.Marilyn and Jeromes son Peter died just six months ago in Salt Lake City, Utah, of a heart attack. His wife, Dr. Mary Bronner, and their daughter Lauren helped Marilyn and Jerome cope with that loss. Marilyn also lost a daughter, Gretchen, at birth in 1956.Besides her parents and son Peter, Marilyn was predeceased by her brother, Raymond, and his wife, Ruth, her like a sister first cousin Jean Johnson Ziemann and Jeans brother Robert as well as first cousin Margaret Schultz Callaghan.Also surviving Marilyn are brother-in-law Frank Cooley and his wife, Patricia, and brother-in-law David Cooley and his wife, Carol, first cousins Dr. Thomas ODowd Sweet, Patricia (Dr. Roger) Klossner, Dorothy Tallie and Carolyn (Ron) Marriott and Jean Johnsons husband Jack Ziemann and cousins Jill Ziemann (Dr. Frank) Bergmann and Beth Ziemann (Steve) Bidstrup and close friend Suzanne Coffey.Marilyn celebrated her 90th birthday September 17 at lunch at Hotel Syracuse (now the Marriott Syracuse Downtown). Bagpiper Jack Hines played Happy Birthday for her on the sidewalk outside the hotel as she left.Marilyn loved flowers, especially from Guignards. She also loved donating to charities. The Bridgeport Food Pantry at St. Francis of Assisi Church might be one.A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 11 am on Friday, November 25, at St. Francis of Assisi Church in Bridgeport, followed by a luncheon in the Parish Center. Burial will be at St. Marys Cemetery, Clinton. Mass of Christian Burial St. Francis of Assisi Church Friday, November 25, 2016 11:00 AM 7820 State Rt. 298 Bridgeport, New York Directions