Mary Frances (DeFlorin) Chadwick
1922-2020
Mary Frances De Florin was born to Helen (née Conley) and Andrew De Florin on August 8, 1922 in McAlester, Oklahoma, one of five siblings: Dorothy, June, Norman (died at 6), and Andrew, Jr. She was predeceased by her parents and all siblings, as well as her loving husband Don (in 2011). She joined the departed as of June 7, 2020 for her final rest.
Mary’s family relocated to Kirkwood, MO during the Great Depression, where she met Donald Caldwell Chadwick at the age of 18, on a double date, then married him at 19, after he had graduated from Westminster College. Shortly after that, Don enlisted in the Navy, but he was able to see his first child Judy before being deployed in 1943. Mary traveled to Oak Harbor, WA with Judy, while Don was stationed nearby, then to Princeton, NJ for his radar engineer training, then advanced math prep at MIT in Cambridge, MA and finally to NAS North Island. After WWII, Donna came along and the family moved out from Webster Groves, MO to La Jolla, CA for Don’s employment at Convair on Kearny Mesa. Four years later, the family transferred to Pomona, where Don started as an aerospace engineer at Convair Pomona, soon to be renamed General Dynamics.
Mary raised her family, was a co-leader in Girl Scouts and later did the same in Campfire Girls. She was PTA president and a staunch Presbyterian at Pomona First, then Claremont Presbyterian Church, starting to work for Pomona Valley Community Hospital after adding daughters Janet and Diane to the family. In 1970, Don left General Dynamics to join his friend Joe Sampson’s insurance business. When Joe passed away a few years later, Don moved his office from Pomona to Tustin, where they lived in Costa Mesa, Aliso Viejo, then to a senior community in Mission Viejo after all 4 children were grown.
Eventually, Mary fully retired to Rancho Bernardo to help take care of her sister June, who became widowed. She and Don played golf and kept active with extended family, taking trips to Mexico, Ireland, England, and Canada, as well as seeing friends in Missouri, Virginia, Washington, Texas, and Arizona.
Mary and Don moved back up to Ontario, California in 2005 so daughter Donna and son-in-law Steve could help keep them more secure, yet independent. Spunky the cat adopted the family in 2009 (to join a long line of cats embraced by Mary). Mary loved her home and her independence well into her 90s, long after Don passed away in 2011. In her later years, Mary lived independently in Ontario and then Claremont Manor for just over 3 years in a cottage. She finally moved to Merrill Gardens, Garden House, Alta Loma in 2019, to receive 24/7 care, with VNA Hospice added during the COVID-19 pandemic.
She is survived by her 4 daughters: Judy, Donna, Janet and Diane, as well as sons-in-law Roy and Steve, grandsons Brian and Jeff (Victoria), and great-grandchildren Mateen and Lyla. Her much-loved cat Spunky has been adopted by a kind friend, Susanne.
A celebration of Mary Frances’s life will be held in the fall, regulations permitting. Family members and friends will be contacted via email when the timing is right for social gatherings. Condolences may be sent to Draper Mortuary in Ontario, California.
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