Marion Lavern Guagliardo, born August 2, 1923, in Lake Church, WI, passed peacefully on Monday, September 7, 2020 at her care home in Eastvale, CA.Marion was lovingly referred to as Oma by her grandchildren, great grandchildren and friends.She was the second of three children born to Adolph and Catherine Schanen.Her older sibling, Dorothy, has passed, but her younger sister, Joann,resides in Colorado.The Schanens owned and operated the only grocery store and the best tavern in a small Luxemburg immigrant community called Lake Church, where the three girls grew up.
Marion met and fell in love with her husband, Louis John Guagliardo in 1943 at the Eagles ballroom in Milwaukee, WI.Dancing was something they both loved to do.During WWII, Lou (as he was called) was stationed in Jacksonville, Florida.Marion traveled to Florida to be with him and they were married in 1945.They celebrated 67 wedding anniversaries before Lou's passing in 2012.
After the war, they returned to WI, bought property in the historic village of Greendale, and Lou built their house by hand.Marion turned the house Lou built for them into a lovely home.They had two children – Thomas, born in 1946, and Mary Louise, born in 1949.Together they operated a paint and wallpaper business from the basement of their home while Lou also worked as a tool and die maker for Cutler Hammer.They eventually opened Greendale Paint and Hardware in the small village shopping center.
In 1960 they moved to Southern California and settled in Anaheim, where they lived for the next 45 years.In 2005 they moved to Laguna Woods, CA.Marion eventually moved to Brookdale on North Euclid in Ontario– an assisted living facility close to her son's Chino home, where she lived for almost seven years before making one last move to the Eastvale care home for a higher level of service.
For many years, Marion worked as the private secretary of a Giegy Pharmaceuticals executive, choosing to retire after that company was merged with another and her boss chose to retire.
Marion lived a full life – raised her two children, then her granddaughter, Dawn, and finally her great grandson, Joshua – whom she home schooled until he entered high school. She and her husband loved to travel. They took many trips around the US in their motorhome as well as a number of cruises to Europe, China and Russia.
In her later years, Marion loved to spend long hours sitting in her son's Chino, CA garden, watching the Goldfinches and Hummingbirds.It was a weekly adventure.She also enjoyed eating out – always a treat for her.She spent many hours reading, as she did not enjoy television.
Marion is survived by her son Thomas, in Chino CA; her daughter Mary Louise, in Carson City NV;and her sister, Joann, in Denver, CO.She will be laid to rest alongside her husband in the Riverside National Cemetery in Riverside, CA.There will be no formal service due to Covid-19.