Mariann Rena (Calvet) Terusa, born on March 9, 1951, passed peacefully with her family by her side on Tuesday, February 12, 2019 in her Mission Viejo home after a long battle with Parkinson's Disease
Mariann was born in Newburg, New York. She was the first daughter of six children, two girls and four boys. When Mariann was 8, the Calvet family moved across country from upstate New York to a farm in Sylmar, California.There she grew up with cows, chickens, goats, horses and her cousins.While at St. Didacus Elementary School she joined the Girl Scouts and took piano lessons.When Mariann was 13, the Calvet clan moved to Granada Hills.
At Bishop Alemany High School, Mariann was truly a girl of the 60's. She was known as the sweetest, nicest and most beautiful girl at school. Everyone truly loved Mariann.She was a JV and Varsity Song leader in her Senior year.She attended dances, sock hops, Junior Prom, Senior Prom and in 1968 was crowned Homecoming Queen. Mariann was truly American's sweetheart!

It was at Bishop Alemany where Mariann met her future husband and the love of her life, Tom Terusa.Mariann and Tom fell madly in love and wanted nothing else in life but to be together. Tom accompanied Mariann to both Homecoming and Senior Prom.She never left his side.

After graduating high school in 1969, Mariann wound up working for the SBA loans association.Tom worked briefly for Universal Studios, then went to work right below Universal for his Dad at Dick and Hanks Mobil Gas Station – "Where the stars get gassed."It wasn't long after this that Tom and Mariann set the date!On October 3, 1970, Tom and Mariann were married at San Fernando Mission. After they said their marriage vows, they decided to buy their first house in Granada Hills where they immediately started their family.After 3 kids, Tom and Mariann realized their growing family was getting too big for their little house in the Valley.

In 1979, the Terusa family headed for "the California Promise" – the newly built community called Mission Viejo. It was a difficult time for Tom and Mariann.Not only were they making a big move from Los Angeles to Orange County, but Mariann was just about to give birth to her fourth child while the other three kids all had the chicken pox!In the heat of summer! But they persevered, as they always did.

Mission Viejo is where Mariann and Tom found their roots and grounded themselves for 40 years.Mariann was very active with the kid's activities.She made sure to be on the sideline of every baseball game, soccer game, concert, marching band performance and was even found cheering on Tom at his evening softball games (which was probably more of a social gathering for the wives, but still). Mariann and Tom enjoyed many camping and fishing trips with the family as well.

Even with the kid's busy schedules, Tom and Mariann always found time for one another by having date nights every Friday night.Their eldest child, Jenny, recalls watching her mom get all dressed up, with the biggest smile on her face (probably knowing that she didn't have to change a diaper for the next few hours), excited to spend an evening with her love, Tom.Mariann and Tom set such a lasting impression for their kids, by showing them that even in the hurricane of the Terusa family life, there was always time for the love of one another.

As the children got older, Mariann decided to take on a few odd jobs to help support the family.And then Mariann and her good friend Laurie Bolduc decided to go into the flower business together.They had a flower cart on the campus of Cal State Fullerton for years.They were friendly faces to all of the students who saw them regularly on campus.The beauty of Mariann and flowers went hand in hand.

Mariann then landed her dream job – at Lake Mission Viejo, where she worked for 21 years.She started in the registration department, where she was able to meet almost every resident of Mission Viejo.Mariann was perfect for this position. As a people person, she enjoyed speaking with every single person that walked through those doors.Mariann was in charge of taking the pictures for the membership cards.It's no wonder that every resident had a big smile on their faces for those pictures.Mariann was promoted to Events Coordinator for The Lake.Not only was she assisting executives, but she was also in charge of coordinating concerts at The Lake.Mariann absolutely loved her job at The Lake.Not only was it a beautiful setting every day, she also met the most amazing people.The Lake was Mariann's heaven.She spent 40 hours a week working there and would turn around and bring the family there on the weekends.Some of the greatest Terusa memories were spent at The Lake for parties, barbeques, concert events, fishing, swimming, boating, etc.You name it, The Terusa's were there doing it and Mariann's smiling face was there for every moment.

Mariann was a shining light that touched everyone she knew.She was full of energy, grace, compassion, beauty and mostly love.The selfless love she had for her children, grandchildren and most of all for her loving husband, Tom, is unparalleled.

This world has lost a shimmering light, the smile of all smiles, a great beauty and a loving heart.But rest assured that the heaven's above have received their greatest angel.

Mariann is survived by her husband, Tom and their four children, Jenny, Tony, Joe and Vince.She is also survived by her four grandchildren, Nicolas, Ellena, Mallory and Anthony, her mother, Ann, and her five siblings, Doug, Bill, Jeanne, Charlie and Al.She was known to family and friends as Mariann or "M.A." … "Mom" to her children and "Nana" to her grandchildren.

Services will be held on
March 16th, 2019
9:45am Rosary/10:30am Mass
Saint Kilian Church
26872 Estanciero Drive
Mission Viejo, CA92691

A reception will follow directly after the service in Hughes Hall

In lieu of flowers and gifts, we kindly ask that donations be made to The Parkinson's Foundation at https://parkinson.org/ways-to-give