Marietta Montgomery Obituary
Former Hamburg resident Marietta "Mimi" Montgomery (née James), 92, passed away on December 30 in Dunkirk. Marietta was born August 20, 1929, in Seattle, to Dr. Gordon M. and Lillian S. James. After living in Bremerton, Wash., the family moved to Ohio, where Marietta attended high school and college in the town for which she was named. She married Palmer "Monty" Montgomery in 1951 and moved to Pennsylvania. After raising four children, Marietta returned to school, got her nursing degree, and worked for many years as an RN. The Montgomerys settled in Hamburg in 1984, where they were active members of the Orchard Park Chorale. Marietta moved into Fredonia Place in 2015, then into Chautauqua Nursing & Rehabilitation Center in 2021.
Marietta loved family get-togethers and holidays, especially Thanksgiving. She was also an avid sun worshipper and could be found soaking up rays as soon as weather permitted; she was especially fond of summers at Chautauqua Lake. So dedicated was she that her kids often said that if she ever won the lottery, she'd complain about having to waste a good sunbath day going to the lottery office. More than anything, she loved to laugh; you could tell her the same joke a hundred times and she'd laugh as hard each time as she did the first time she heard it. Her sense of humor and love of socializing sustained her throughout her life.
Marietta was preceded in death by her husband in 1988, and two siblings, Ann (Douglas) Manly of Fredonia and Gordon "Mac" (Barbara) James of Schaumburg, Ill. She is survived by four children, Paul, of San Francisco; Scott (Lisa), of Jamestown; Ann, of Farmington, Conn.; and J. Cady (Harry) Rowe, of Punta Gorda, Fla.; six grandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews. Her ashes will be interred next to her husband at Sunset Hill Memorial Park in Cranberry, Pa.
The family wishes to offer their sincerest thanks to the staff of Fredonia Place and Chautauqua Nursing & Rehabilitation Center for their exceptional care and love for Mimi in the last years of her life.
