Marion R. Haeberle

LAKEVILLE —Marion R. Haeberle, 96, died April 6, 2016, after a brief illness.  

She was born in Lorain, Ohio, on Aug. 10, 1919, and shortly thereafter moved to New York with her parents, Paul H. and Theresa (Stocker) Reichardt.  

She grew up in Floral Park, N.Y., and attended the local schools, including John Lewis Childs School and Sewanhaka High School. She went to Adelphi College (now Adelphi University) in Garden City, N.Y., and graduated cum laude in 1941.  She also attended Teachers College, Columbia University, for a master’s degree in education.  She taught social studies at Sewanhaka High School from 1941 to 1946.  

In 1943, she married Franklin Haeberle, also of Floral Park.  They were married for 64 years and lived in Floral Park until they moved to Lakeville in 1980.  

Although she left full-time teaching after the birth of her first child, she did occasional substitute teaching and was involved in many other activities, including the local PTA, American Association of University Women, and organizations at the Floral Park Methodist Church which she attended with her family as long as they lived in that town.  

In 1964, Marion began taking night courses at C.W. Post College for a library degree, which she received in 1968. During this time, she worked at the local public library, and later became librarian at John Lewis Childs School, the same elementary school that she had attended.  She worked there until she retired in 1980.   

After moving to Lakeville, Marion and Franklin became involved in a number of activities, including the local camera club, and the Taconic Learning Center.  They became members of the Lakeville United Methodist Church, where Marion helped cook weekly lunches for the Rotary Club. She worked with the Salisbury Oral History Project and served as chairman of the project for several years.  She was also a member of the local Hawthorne Club.  

She is survived by her son, Alan, and his wife, Cori, of Silver Spring, Md.; her son, Gordon, of South Brunswick, N.J., and her daughter-in-law, Jan, of Port Jefferson Station, N.Y.; by four grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.

She was predeceased by her husband, Franklin; and her son, Paul.  

She loved traveling, on many car trips around the United States with her family and on numerous national and international tours with her husband after she retired.  Traveling with her young family, she always wanted to pull over to the side of the road so she could read the local historical markers.  

Marion was a lifelong student of history, and while she loved reading fiction, she always had a thick volume based on deep historical research by her bedside.  She loved researching her own family history and genealogy, and for many years she kept a journal on her home computer, recording milestones, passages and random events, travel and visits with family and friends, significant weather, medical concerns, household improvements  and many other happenings.  She sometimes sighed and said, “Oh, this is nothing.  No one will be interested.”  She can never realize how grateful her descendants will be for these notes, and how helpful they have been in the writing of this notice.  

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Lakeville United Methodist Church, Lakeville, CT 06039, or to the Scoville Memorial Library, Salisbury, CT 06068.  

A funeral service will be held at the Lakeville United Methodist Church on Saturday, April 23, at 2 p.m., followed by burial at the Salisbury Cemetery.  A reception will be held at the family home afterward.  

Arrangements are under the care of Newkirk-Palmer Funeral Home in North Canaan.