Marion A. Paden

Marion Paden, 98, died peacefully in her sleep early December 28, 2009, at Woodbine Rehabilitation and Health Care Center in Alexandria following an evening of movie watching and chocolate eating with her daughter and her roommate. Marion was born in 1911, the second of five children, to Edward and Ella Law, on a farm near Detroit, Michigan. When she was 9, the family moved the house to Mansfield Street near St. Mary of Redford Church, and Edward became a carpenter. He helped build St. Mary?s School, where his children were educated. On a grade-school field trip, Marion fell in love with Lake Erie and drew her family to a small community called Woodland Beach near Monroe, Michigan, where her father and other relatives built cottages. She loved summers there with her sisters, Estella and Ethel; brothers, Bernard and Edward; and many cousins. She graduated from St Mary of Redford High School in 1929 and Marygrove College in 1933 and worked as a home economics teacher in the Detroit Public Schools until her retirement. In 1948, following a 13-year courtship, she married Felix V. Paden, a Detroit policeman. Their daughter Mary was born in 1949. As the wife of a popular police inspector, Marion often entertained police and city dignitaries, as well as acrobats, clowns, and the lion tamer from the Shrine Circus, one of Felix?s charitable works. In 1958, the family moved into a home, built by Marion?s grandparents in the 1920s, to take care of her father until he died. When Felix died in 1972, after a long illness, Marion retired and became a snowbird, sharing a condo in North Palm Beach, Florida, with her girlhood friend, Mary Eleanor Shriner. At 75, Marion moved her Michigan residence to suburban Farmington, where she continued her active retirement including travel with church groups and friends. Marion always kept in close contact with her siblings, her relatives, and her many lifelong friends. Her life was long, happy, hard at times, but always connected to her loved ones. Her warmth, hard work, constant caring, utter lack of guile, and dry wit endeared her to all. In 1999, when she was 88, Marion moved to Alexandria, Virginia, to live with her daughter. Her wonderful caregivers, including Hannah, Ansah, Martha, and Comfort, became family friends. Five years later, she moved to nearby Woodbine Center where she became a favorite of the staff. With her daughter and her roommate, Georgette, she took many outings and always had a place at the holiday table of her niece, Carol Donlan the daughter of her sister Ethel in Falls Church. She is survived by her daughter, Mary Paden; stepdaughter, Elena Paden Cuevas; brother, Edward J. Law; nieces Carol Knopes Donlan, Pat Schmidt, Janet Law, Linda Fountain, Lisa Bublinec, and Nancy Law; and many grand and great grand nieces and nephews. A Funeral Mass will be held at 11 a.m. Tuesday January 12, Good Shepherd Catholic Church, 8710 Mt. Vernon Hwy, Alexandria 22309. A reception will follow at the church. A Memorial service will be held 2:30 ? 4:30 p.m. Sunday, January 10, Woodbine Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center, 2729 King St., Alexandria 22302. Interment will be at Holy Sepulcher Cemetery, Southfield, Michigan, in the Spring. In lieu of flowers, please send contributions to Good Shepherd Catholic Church, Alexandria Virginia or St. Mary of Redford Catholic Church, Detroit, Michigan. Marion will be deeply missed. We honor her example of love, caring, and good humor.