Obituary of Marion L. Trabelsi
Sadly, Marion passed away on the evening of Wednesday Nov 3, 2021. She had recently turned 80 years old. When I last saw her in the hospital, we discussed her affairs frankly. We were waiting for an appointment with a Weill Cornell cardiologist to get much needed stents delayed by the COVID pandemic. She told me, "Don't worry, I’ll be around for a long time." She will be around. In the way she gave her home, her love and her money to people in need. She never forgot her childhood in Boston and her hard-working parents who did their best to provide.
My mom is an only child, and I am her only child. She always wanted more children and for a while she was a Division of Youth and Family Services social worker in Trenton, NJ. She went into people's homes and made sure children were cared for even when others had forgotten them. She worked for a variety of schools teaching French and Spanish. Her favorite was Rosa Parks High School of Fine and Performing Arts in Patterson, NJ because the students were all artists. Unfortunately, she never got tenure because she stood up to an injustice. She fought for what was right, never thinking of the consequences to herself.
Marion enjoyed creative activities. She knew how to sew with her trusty Singer sewing machine. I remember she made new slipcovers for her sofa and new drapes whenever she felt like her living room needed a refresh. She said that an artist can create something valuable out of nothing, which to her meant that the cost of an artist’s materials did not limit the artwork’s value. We went to the “Sensation” show at the Brooklyn Museum where Chris Ofili had his controversial Madonna painting with Elephant dung. She thought that was interesting art but did not like Renee Cox’s ''Yo Mama's Last Supper'' because it had the artist placed where Jesus belonged. She loved art but didn't mess with the classics.
In her retirement, she was an active member of the Plainfield Senior Center. She loved to act and her Senior Center theater troupe performed for the public and visited nursing homes. Her friends described her qualities as kindness, spontaneity, frankness, honesty, sense of humor, open-heart and open- mind. If you were lucky enough to know my mom, then you had a loyal, life long friend that was always helping others. Marion stuck by her friend Sunny's side after her diagnosis of Alzheimer's after all others stopped coming to visit. My mom was a fighter and she endured dialysis 3x a week just to live life. Unfortunately a sudden heart attack took her away from us, from me, too quickly.
If you are able to join us, we will be holding a wake (2:00 pm - 4:00 pm) and funeral (starting at 4 pm) on Sunday, November 14 at the Calvary Chapel Middlesex, 100 Fairfield Avenue (off route 28), Middlesex, NJ 08846. Sympathy flowers for the service can be ordered online at https://www.graysflorist.com for the Watchung location or call (908) 757-0400. Please make sure to mention Higgins Home For Funerals and Marion Trabelsi for the delivery.
