Remembering Marion

Marion Frances Macon Falchi was born in Queens and moved a whole lot in her lifetime. Yesterday was my mom's birthday, so I am going to reflect a bit on her story. She spent a couple of years at a "good job" at Bell Labs before going back to school to teach. She started teaching in NYC, but, after a while, she was tired of the subways and remembered the trip she had taken to visit her aunt in California. She moved there as a young, single woman and met my dad at a young Catholics group. They got married and moved to Nebraska, where he was studying for a doctorate. I guess he got ABD and then my brother was born. He got a teaching job at a small university in Ohio, and they moved there, where I was born. Flash forward a couple of states later and we were in Missouri after a tour of Michigan and Minnesota. It was so small town. She must have had us sit and say rosaries enough to get my dad a job a UCLA. Glad to be back to California, she taught in a Catholic school--my class--for 2 years! Yes, a nun came along and wanted the 5th grade, so she was bumped up to 6th. We survived and she was even my principle in 8th. That was after she and my dad had split up and she had to support the family. It wasn't much of a living as a teacher, so we moved to a small house behind the church. I went to work after schools cooking for the 9 nuns. Thus, I learned too much about the church. I knew details about the priests and nuns that did not improve my opinions about the church's wealth and hypocrisy of how women are treated. So I continued at Catholic high school on a scholarship but also became a bit of a bad girl. My mom was always there for me though even though it was stressful. We shared a room with a bookcase between our beds until my aunt helped me to fix up our garage and I moved out there. I had about half the garage and my own key! I painted and my mom would knock on the wall every night to say goodnight. I wonder about how much she knew. By then, I had been sneaking out for years with friends. We managed, and I moved to go to school; she continued to live in LA. Eventually, she bought a condo. My brother moved back from NY and moved in for a bit. She eventually nudged him to move out on his own. She traveled. She read, and she knew how to laugh. As for work, she start to work downtown in the central offices of the schools. Her best friend is now the head of all elementary schools. In those days, they taught teacher, principals, and secretaries workshops. She knew how the schools worked and what a difference it meant to be living in poverty from first hand experience. Although she started to make a better living, she always lived simply. Her trips were sometimes educational ones, where she would learn about opera or other topics. Looking back at lectures she planned when she taught teachers in a college, I realize how smart and sassy she really was--Freire, Illich--she talked about people I am reading about now.