Marianne Testa

Marianne was born July 11, 1940 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.   She was the first of six children of Elizabeth and Russell Jones.  Her family chose to move to California before she reached high school.  In Palo Alto she attended and graduated from Cubberley High School.  She moved on to attend the College of Notre Dame in Belmont, California, she was pursuing a career in education, but she was required to major in an academic discipline and chose Spanish as a major.  She received both the degree and education credential.  In the Fall of her junior year at an interschool mixer with the University of Santa Clara, she met Nick Testa.  The two of them were constant companions for the next 62.5 years.  He was at her bedside as she passed after 60 years of marriage.

Nick and Marianne were married in Mountain View, California February 2, 1963 and moved to Downey to set up home.  Just before their first anniversary their daughter, Elizabeth (Betsy), was born.  Thirteen months later she was followed by their son, Nicholas (Nick III).

Their next adventure began in 1966 when Nicks job moved them to Puerto Rico.  Marianne got to use her Spanish and even sat on the board of their local homeowner’s association.  She loved watching her children play with the neighborhood children speaking both Spanish and English.  She thoroughly toured the Island, enjoyed a bit of the rum and lots of the food, and played in the surf at many beaches.  A major vacation, with another couple and all 4 of both couple’s children, took them to visit most of the Caribbean Islands all the way down to Trinidad.  Other trips included hops to the Virgin Islands, Jamaica, and drives to the other Puerto Rican destinations like Luquillo Beach or El Yunque Mountain.

Returning to California in 1968, home became Cerritos as one of the early residents of the town.  A call to the Chancery office in Los Angeles to locate a kindergarten led to discovering St. Hedwig.  This started a 22 year relationship with the School.  Marianne was a devoted mother and wife who, in addition to raising children and enjoying time with Nick, served for several years as Playground Chairman staffing the multitude of volunteers to oversee the playground at lunch time each day.  She also served as Field Trip Chair securing the volunteers to provide adult supervision for off campus trips.  One of her favorite positions was Library Chairman which gave her a chance to use the skills she had mastered working in the university library during college and in temporary jobs at the public libraries later.  The book fairs she brought to St. Hedwig School During those years provided a revenue stream for the library and a way to enrich the student, and even parent’s, reading habits.  Her final assignment was as the President of the Parents Association.  All during this time she poured out love on Nick and her children, cooking, tending house driving kids to many activities and just watching her family grow.

During the early 1970s, she ran the house alone for around a year while Nick flew to Detroit each week for work.  This led them to move to the Detroit suburb of Canton for a year.  By the time of the move to Michigan, their second son, Edward (Ed) had been born in 1971.  Marianne got to re-live the cold and challenge of getting the children to school in the winter like she did herself in Pittsburg as a child.  In warmer times she enjoyed travel through Michigan and Canada including Montreal, Quebec City, and Ottawa.  The stay in Michigan was so short and she got right back into parish activities so quickly that one parishioner asked her if she had been attending a different Mass because they had not seen her for a while.

Returning to California in 1974, Nick and Marianne made Cypress home for the next 49 years.  Their son, Andrew, was born in 1976.  Marianne’s involvement with St Hedwig continued with participation in the RCIA program to coach new Catholic converts on their way to the sacraments.  Marianne was honored in 2003 with nomination by St. Hedwig for the Catholic Woman of the Year in the Diocese of Orange.  Two of her long-term activities started in this period.  She joined the new St, Hedwig Bible study and became a volunteer for the Thrift Shop at the Precious Life Shelter that provides care and housing for pregnant women.  These were her ways to grow spiritually and serve others.  She spent over 25 years participating in each of these causes.

She spent a lot of years in leadership and supporting Girl Scouts and Boy Scout Troop 671.  With three boys in scouts one at a time it took many years to get them through the ranks, with two of them reaching Eagle.  Family camping at the Russian River with canoe trips down the river, BBQs every night, and visits to the wineries were her favorite.

Marianne always enjoyed being with her children and all of her ten grandchildren who range in age from 32 to 6 years old.  She would drive for an hour or travel even longer by train to care for the grandchildren.  It became a tradition when she stayed over for the children to come to her bedroom to wake her in the morning.  This led to some very early wake up times, like 4 AM, when they were too little to get the time right.  Early wake up provided more time to snuggle with grandma.  There are many pictures and great memories of her reading to the little ones and playing games with them. Holidays and family events gave her great joy.

Reading books and doing Sudoku puzzles were her favorite pastimes.  She did not find the 9 digit (3x3 squares) challenging enough and enjoyed the 16 digit (4x4) matrix more.  Social activities included meals with friends, St Francis Guild meetings (she served on that board and as president for the group), monthly bunco games, and founding member and longtime board member of a political action committee.  Her kids’ families were growing and she was always only a phone call away at this time for advice or help on a recipe.  She got to play chauffeur again when grandson Elliott spent his final high school year living with grandma and grandpa.  This was followed by son-in-law Leo and granddaughter Aly in residence for a few years.  Marianne made sure everyone was fed and cared for.

Before some of her medical issues prevented it, she and Nick traveled to Australia, Austria, England, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Italy, New Zealand, Portugal, Scotland, Spain, Turkey, Wales, and many U. S. cities like New Orleans and Washington, D. C.

Marianne loved her family and friends. We are sure she is so happy that you were able to celebrate her life and love her in return. She lived a full life and blessed all those around her. She will be missed by all, remembered by all, and loved by all she came to know.  We have our own saint in heaven to pray to and can be confident she will be praying for us.