Margaret Ann Marchelletta

Margaret Ann Marchelletta (nee Romano), 87, of Alpharetta, GA passed away peacefully while surrounded by family at sunset on September 25, 2023 after a private five year battle with breast cancer. Born to John Romano and Lucia Dimieri in NYC, her family arc followed the same as her recently deceased husband, Jerry Marchelletta, Sr. as she too was raised in Corona, Queens and moved to Whitestone as a teenager. Until their marriage in 1956 (which saw them move in with her parents for 8 years), they literally grew up within 1 ½ city blocks of each other their entire lives. She was the middle child and only female between John and Phillip, both deceased.

She is survived by her 3 children ( Jerry, Jr., Jeffrey William and JoyceAnn ) and 6 grandchildren, Jerry III, Dawson, Alyssa, Charlotte, Morgan and Quentin. Her family also included her niece Lucille Ronis – originally born to her elder brother - whom she helped raise from the time she was 7 along with her children Jared, Travis and Jordan. Finally, she leaves behind a treasure trove of memories filled with laughter for her children’s spouses and partners Sandy Marchelletta, Trey Haines, Jim Laider and Stuart Ronis.

Margaret was first and foremost extremely passionate – if not outright fiercely protective – when it came to her family. She was an avid gardener with the greenest of thumbs, an enormous animal lover and had mastered the art of the Italian Peasant-style dishes she grew up with that she would pass on to her daughter Joyce and daughter in law Sandy. She taught us the value in and lived for “Sunday Dinners” where family and friends would congregate for hours where she would complain about the epic spreads of food and then request “only a taste” of everything, which she would happily devour. “Ugh, I have no room for dessert” was a familiar battle cry as she would once again ask for “just a taste of it all”, before angrily pointing out which one someone forgot to put on her plate. Whereas frequent attendee Jim Knutson would bring his special blueberry vodka laden vat of Sangria for Senior, Cynthia would always go out of her way to make a homemade masterpiece for dessert, in particular her chocolate dipped strawberries and Tiramisu. Holiday celebrations were her absolute favorite and in her later years as her health failed, we would simply place Alyssa’s Charcuterie Boards of Chaos directly in front of her, as well as whatever else came out of the kitchen. Nothing stopped her from attending these events in person and we all knew each and every one of them together was special.

In her later years, she would confide to all of us how she couldn’t believe she made it this long as her greatest joy came from her grandchildren and the people they were growing into. She loved going to their childhood sporting events and couldn’t believe she could watch Charlotte pitching for Columbia University or Morgan in various national tournaments she would play in from the comfort of her couch on TV. She would spar verbally and playfully constantly with J3 and often compared Dawson and Quentin, whom she thought were both incredibly humble, good young men who would make a difference in the world. She was loud where her husband was quiet, she was opinionated on everything where he held his tongue, she was quick to laugh boldly where he would smirk and just shake his head. They were a perfect old school couple for the ages and they played off each other their entire lives. On the few occasions a year we would go out to dinner as children, we weren’t allowed to order the same dish as she insisted we each tasted each other’s meal. Our father would turn a shade of green each time and ask her to stop doing that. She never stopped.

And they’re together again…

A visitation for Margaret will be held Thursday, October 12, 2023 from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM at Roswell Funeral Home, 950 Mansell Road, Roswell, GA 30076. A mass will occur Friday, October 13, 2023 at 10:30 AM at St. Benedict Catholic Church, 11045 Parsons Rd, Duluth, GA 30097. Margaret will be laid to rest with her beloved Jerry at St. Charles Cemetery, 2015 Wellwood Avenue Farmingdale, NY 11735 on Monday, October 16th at 11:00am

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.roswellfuneralhome.com for the Marchelletta family.