Michele Marie

Michele Marie, 72, known to friends as "Mickey," passed away on Sunday, September 30, 2018, with her daughters by her bedside. Born in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania in 1946 to Edward Sr. and Ann Stoken, Mickey moved to her adoptive home of Virginia as a child. She was raised in the City of Falls Church, and attended St. James Catholic School and Bishop O'Connell High School. She graduated from James Madison University in 1969 with a B.S. in Health Education, and dedicated her first career to Federal service with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (formerly the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare), where she worked to improve and ensure the quality of the country's nursing home facilities. In order to spend more time with her young children, Mickey changed career paths and returned to school to pursue her B.A. in Early Childhood Education, which she earned from Marymount University in 1988. In 1990, she began her second career as an elementary school teacher in Arlington County. Mickey went on to receive her M.A. in Education from GMU in 1998, and eventually settled into teaching 4th grade with a focus on Virginia Studies. In addition to her full-time teaching, Mickey also worked with an after-school program, teaching hands-on experiments to get students excited about science, and taught with the Arlington Global Village Summit during summers, working with technology, language, and hands-on learning to help students better understand and appreciate the world around them. Although she formally retired from teaching full-time in 2013, she continued working in the schools as a substitute teacher through August 2018. Mickey taught so much to so many, beyond just her students. She was a devoted, fun-loving mother, and a dedicated member of both her civic and religious communities. An accomplished seamstress, she kept her family styled in her loving creations, from Halloween costume, to prom dress, to wedding veil. A former Girl Scout leader, Mickey's family vacations often included camping trips, where she taught her daughters to properly build, and extinguish, a camp fire, and to leave no trace. She volunteered her time through her church, preparing and serving meals at Christ House of Alexandria, and hosting bereavement receptions at St. Thomas More, where she was a parish member for over 35 years. Mickey served as President of the HOA Board for her home in Bethany Beach, and was active in her leadership until her death. She cherished time spent at Bethany Beach, her home away from home since childhood, and made it a point to make a pilgrimage to the beach during every visit, regardless of the time of year, to pay her respects to the ocean. Preceded in death by her husband, Benjamin H. Winslow, Jr., Mickey will be lovingly remembered by her children: Lauren (McManus) Parsels and husband Jeremy, and Allison Marie and husband Kirch Clausen. She was also devoted grandmother of Brittany, Kylie, and Luke, loving step-mother of Melissa (Winslow) Doane and James Winslow, and cherished sister of Edward Stoken, Kenneth Stoken, and Christine Quesenberry. Strong, independent, and beautiful, she gave freely of her time and of her heart. She led by example, and was a model for parenting, grandparenting, strength, humor, faith. Mickey played an integral role in the lives of those close to her, and will be profoundly missed. Friends and relatives are invited to call from 5-7 p.m. Friday, October 26, at Murphy Funeral Home of Arlington, 4510 Wilson Boulevard. Mickey will be remembered in a Memorial Mass at 11 a.m. Saturday, October 27, at the Cathedral of St. Thomas More, 3901 Cathedral Lane in Arlington, followed by a reception in the parish hall. Inurnment at Arlington National Cemetery will take place at a later date. Additional details will be published at www.murphyfuneralhomes.com when available. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the American Cancer Society by visiting www.cancer.org/donate or over the phone at 1-800-227-2345.