Margery F. Taverna

Born Margery Faith Kaufmann in 1920, she was the youngest of seven children of Joseph Kaufmann and Helena Brennan Kaufmann. He was a German immigrant who settled with his family in Rosebank in 1877; she came to Staten Island with her family from Connecticut when her father worked to install some of the first electric lines on the island. They married in 1902.

Margery was raised during the Depression, and survived the burning and rebuilding of the family home on North Street in Port Richmond. She attended St. Mary's of the Assumption Church and graduated from Port Richmond High School.

She met her husband, Frank P. Cunningham, when both were working as salesclerks in the Woolworths Five and Ten store on Castleton Avenue. They married on June 11, 1942, and he served in the U.S. Army in Europe during World War II. After the war they settled in Port Richmond and for a time operated a soda shop on Jewett Avenue. Mr. Cunningham also worked as a deckhand on tugboats and barges and died in a maritime accident in 1951, leaving his wife to raise two sons.

In 1955, when both boys had begun to attend school, she went to work for an accountant in Stapleton. She worked there for 16 years until both sons were finished their education, when she met and married Americo J. Taverna, then the owner of the Taverna Fuel Co. From 1970 until his death in 1991 they lived in Princess Bay and Hialeah, Florida, and spent many days enjoying horse racing in both states.

In 1996, after announcing that she always wanted a home at the Jersey Shore, she bought a house in Barnegat Light, New Jersey, and spent most summers there enjoying the beach and boating with her family.

She was the last surviving member of her family’s generation, known as Aunt Marge to many nieces, nephews, and grandnieces and nephews.

Her siblings were Helene M. Abate, Marie “Sis” Kennedy, Dorothy “Dot” Harris Kettner, Joseph “Mickey” Kaufmann, Elizabeth “Betty” Kelly McKiever, and Harold “Bub” Kaufmann.

She is survived by her sons:

Francis P. Cunningham and his wife Joanne live in Richmondtown. He is employed by the Rucci Fuel Co.

Robert M. Cunningham and his wife Melinda live in Barnegat Light, New Jersey. He retired as an assistant managing editor from the Bergen Record newspaper in New Jersey.

She is also survived by five grandchildren and four great grandchildren:

Jennifer Kakon lives in Jacksonville, Florida.

Rebecca Martin and her husband Todd Martin live in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, with their children Domenic Michael Martin and Emily Faith Martin.

Katie Cunningham Jackson and her husband Ben Jackson live in Washington, DC.

Brian Cunningham and his wife Chrissy Marie Cunningham live in Scottsdale, Arizona, with their children Chase Michael Cunningham and Jade Rider Cunningham.

Laura Cunningham lives in New York City.

Friends and family will be received Friday Sept. 6 from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Casey Funeral Home, 350 Slosson Ave., Staten Island. Mass Saturday at 9:30 a.m. at St. Roch Church, 602 Port Richmond Avenue. Burial to follow at Moravian Cemetery.

In lieu of flower donations may be made to the St. Jude Children’s Hospital Margery Taverna Memorial fund (search Margery at www.giftfunds.stjude.org ) or to the Barnegat Light Beach Patrol, checks to Barnegat Light Borough, c/o Kathleen Flanagan, PO Box 576, Barnegat Light, NJ 08006.