Mary Anne

 

Mary Anne in the WGCH studio (Facebook)

I got word last night via email that my WGCH colleague Mary Anne DeFelice -- no, wait -- Mary Anne DeLuca Melillo DeFelice, has passed away.

I had only recently heard that she had been ill in that way that often happens. People move on, lives get busy, and suddenly you realize you haven't heard much lately from them. Nothing on social media. No little snippets of seeing someone.

Then you hear they're sick.

Then you hear they've died.

To be honest, I kept waiting for her to burst back into the radio station, with a new show all ready to start.

I often described Mary Anne as being the crazy aunt and I mean that in literally the best way possible. You wanted Mary Anne to be your friend. You wanted Mary Anne to be your mother. You wanted Mary Anne to be your aunt.

She, in return, wanted laughter, love, and to feed you. Also, did I mention laughter?

I knew her for roughly 20 years. She blasted into WGCH right around the time Sean was born and began hosting a show that I affectionately described as "the Seinfeld of radio." It was about nothing and that's a compliment. It could ramble. It could go anywhere. 

Anything could happen. That's radio at it's best, especially at the community level.

You could walk in the studio door to drop off tomorrow's program log and find yourself on the air talking about your take on a TV episode.

But Mary Anne didn't have time for negativity. A sensitive soul, sadness could make her cry on the air. I remember she had me on to talk about a sports story and, well, she broke down. That's who she was.

Then there was that laugh. Oh, that laugh. Full of breath, as if every ounce of her being was happy to push sound out of it to respond to whatever was being said.

She dazzled everyone. She confounded everyone.

But she also loved everyone. 

Oh, don't get me wrong, she could confide in you and have a few things to say when needed to blow off steam. In the process, her Catholic upbringing would appear with a few "God forgive me's" as she spoke. It was all part of her.

(Facebook photo)

I remember she was at the Babe Ruth World Series in 2002. You see, that took place at Cubeta Stadium in Stamford and few loved Stamford, CT more than she did. If she had more of a national stage she could rival Bobby Valentine for Stamford prominence.

And everyone knew her. Or they wanted to.

But there she was, walking around the World Series in '02 and bringing food up to the booth to feed the boys from WGCH.

"Rob, Rob, Rob," she'd say like a hungry Road Runner. "What do you guys want to eat?"

I'd laugh and tell her some capicola (if only to say "gabagool" to an Italian and make her laugh) and then we'd place an order. And there would be far more than we ordered.

Then she'd come on the air for a moment and tell us all about Joe and John and Jim behind the counter where she got the food and that she ran into Father this and Sammy that from down on Atlantic Street and I'd just smile. Game? What game?

It was Mary Anne's show, in 2012, that I jumped on the day of the eventual Superstorm Sandy. Mary Anne, wisely, was happy to stay home and be safe. I subbed for her show a few times over the years and her audience was always kind.

And she loved her show. She loved playing her songs and talking about pop culture or whatever was on her mind.

And she loved her family. She adored her children and was wonderful to her mother. I highlighted her last names at the top of the post and that's simply who she was. She had a good relationship with her first husband and was proud of her maiden name so, even after marrying her second husband Steve, she simply added to her surname.

She'd even laugh about that.

And boy did she love Steve. He'd come on her show to talk about selling cars and offer recipes. His greeting of "HonEEEEEEEEE!" became a staple around the station. Tony Savino and I still say it to each other.

Sadly, she lost Steve in 2019 and her mom passed earlier this year.

Today, we remember Mary Anne. Sadly, with the passing of Jim Thompson a short time back, WGCH has had some losses of people that we have to remind ourselves to be grateful for.

So it's the laughter and chaos I choose to think about. How she was always struggling to do things in the studio that would cause Bob Small to lose more hair and, in the process, simply more laughter. How, despite being on the radio, she wasn't a "radio person."

She was a personality.

At times, you could find her at the front desk of the old Dayton Ave building. Then you could find her in the current building where the desk was overloaded with trinkets, family pictures, and stacks of Jerry Vale CDs.

Every night, as the calamity that was her show came to a close, she'd turn serious and say something that was spot on.

"Never waste an opportunity to tell someone you love them."

Seems pretty simple, right?

Thanks, Mary Anne.