Barbara Weakley
Barbara Jean Maxey Craig Weakley, 76, passed away October 12. She suffered from Alzheimer’s disease in the last years of her life.
She was born Christmas Eve, 1935 in Bloomington, Illinois, to Marie and Lon Maxey, a candy factory worker. When she was a child, her parents divorced. After a brief itinerant period traveling through Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky, she and her mother settled in St. Louis, with her mother’s new husband, Harold Craig.
After graduating from Cleveland High School in south St. Louis, she became the first in her family to go to college. She enrolled at the University of Missouri at Columbia, where she earned a B.S. degree in Education, joined a sorority, and met her future husband, James Donald Weakley.
The couple was married in November of 1957, and honeymooned in New Orleans during Mardi Gras the following year. “Don” Weakley was enlisted in the Air Force, and his new bride accompanied him on his assignments in Mississippi and Arizona, where she embarked on a teaching career on two Indian reservations. After the birth of her first child, James, in 1959, her brief teaching career came to an end.
After Mr. Weakley was discharged from the Air Force in late 1959, the young family moved to St. Louis, where he began a career in advertising. The Weakley’s second child, Lisa Ann, was born in 1962.
In late 1963, Mr. Weakley, was asked to work at a Madison Avenue advertising firm and the family headed east in 1964, just in time to see their Cardinals defeat the Yankees in a thrilling seven-game World Series.
In Rye, Mrs. Weakley became a dedicated volunteer. She joined the Osborn PTO, eventually becoming President, and was a Girl Scout/Brownie troop leader. She headed the Rye Youth Employment agency, taking a leadership role in the life of teens in the community. Mrs. Weakley was also an active member of the Twig and taught Sunday school at Rye Presbyterian Church. Subsequently, she became one of the first teachers at Rye Presbyterian Nursery School.
She enjoyed membership at Apawamis Club and was an accomplished bridge player.
The Weakleys moved back to St. Louis in 1979. After Mr. Weakley died of cancer three years later, she went back to teaching. She taught elementary school, while earning her master’s degree in Education at St. Louis University. After receiving her degree in 1986, she promptly went to work for a Catholic Charities organization, St. Patrick Center, counseling homeless, mentally ill, and substance-abusing men. She made the job her own until her retirement in 2010.
Her family said, “Our mother’s passing brought to a close a very sad chapter in an otherwise wonderful life.”
In addition to her son, James “Craig” Weakley of Rye, and her daughter, Lisa Ann Chiappetta of Mamaroneck, Mrs. Weakley is survived by six grandchildren: Emma, Nina, Jessica, Dominick, Julia, and John Rossi.
A memorial service will be celebrated at Rye Presbyterian Church Saturday November 3 at 10:30 a.m.
Donations may be made in her memory to the Alzheimer’s Association, 2900 Westchester Ave., Suite 306, Purchase, NY 10577.
Mary DePauw
Mary Ellen (Chickie) DePauw, a lifelong resident of Rye, passed away October 16.
Born in the Bronx June 29, 1935, she was the daughter of Jeremiah and Marie (McGlynn) McGuire. In 1954 she graduated from the Academy of the Resurrection in Rye.
She worked alongside her family at Jerry’s Post Road Market and Kelly’s Sea Level her entire life. “Chickie”, as she was called, was a hard worker, said her family.
The comments in her 1954 yearbook are as true today as they were then, according to her family. She was “warm hearted, energetic, indicative of mischief, thoughtful, generous, a gentle influence, always ready to help others, a fund of humor, and a dance step connoisseur”.
Above all, Mrs. DePauw enjoyed spending time with her family. She will be remembered as a caregiver of others, and a loving grandmother, aunt, and mother-in-law.
Mrs. DePauw was predeceased by her husband of 38 years, Alphonse (Sonny) DePauw, in 1994. She is survived by her four children: Joseph DePauw and his wife Deryl of Port Chester, Jacqueline Ramsey and her husband William, Linda Kirby and her husband George, and Christopher DePauw and his wife Lisa, all of Rye.
She is also survived by 13 grandchildren; four great-grandchildren; a sister, Margaret (Peggy) Fitzgerald, and a brother, Jeremiah McGuire and his wife Martha of Rye, along with many loving nieces, nephews, and cousins. Two of her brothers, William and Michael McGuire, predeceased her.
A mass of Christian Burial was celebrated at the Church of the Resurrection October 22.
Donations in Mrs. DePauw’s memory may be made to St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital.
James William Tobey
James William Tobey, a resident of Wake Robin in Shelburne, Vermont, died unexpectedly but peacefully October 12 at Fletcher Allen Health Care in Burlington, Vermont.
Born in Quincy, Massachusetts, November 27, 1919 to James and Lena May (King) Tobey, he attended schools in Rye. Bill, as he was known, graduated in 1937 from Rye High School, where he was captain of the track team, manager of the basketball team, stage manager, and member of the National Honor Society. He was active in the Boy Scouts of America and achieved the rank of Eagle.
He earned his bachelor’s degree from Amherst College in 1941 and his MBA from Harvard Business School in 1943. After graduation, he joined the U.S. Navy and served in the Pacific during World War II, ultimately concluding his service with the rank of Lieutenant Commander, USNR, in 1980.
In 1943, the young ensign married Marieta Krejci of Birmingham, Michigan. After the war, the couple moved to Rye, where he began his business career with the Borden Company in New York City. In 1948, he moved to Home Life Insurance, where he held positions in management and administration until his retirement in 1982.
Mr. Tobey’s volunteer activities included work with the Rye Historical Society, Rye High School Dad’s Club, United Way, Christ’s Church in Rye, and the Boy Scouts. His lifelong involvement in scouting culminated in his being awarded the BSA’s highest honor, the Order of the Silver Beaver.
A man of sincerity and quiet integrity, he made many friends in his more than 92 years and will be missed by all who knew him.
Mr. Tobey is survived by his wife Marieta, of Wake Robin; his children: daughter Cathleen and her husband Thomas Rubel of Glenwood Springs, Colorado, daughter Priscilla and her husband Rich Goggin of Carlysle, Massachusetts, son William and his wife Gerri Oppedisano of South Burlington, Vermont, daughter Ann and her husband Ron Wilhelmsen of Milton, Massachusetts; and seven grandchildren: Anna, Alyssa, Caroline, Tasman, Jenna, Adam, and Ty.
He was predeceased by his son, James R. Tobey in 2001, and by his sister, Sylvia Tobey Hoisington in 2005.
Contributions in Bill Tobey’s memory may be made to the Westchester-Putnam Council, Boy Scouts of America, 41 Saw Mill River Road, Hawthorne, NY 10532-1519.
Shirley Coddington
Shirley Leffer Coddington died October 7 in Boynton Beach, Florida. She was 91.
She was born March 13, 1921 in Brooklyn, New York, to Nathan and Mary Schneider Leffer. In 1925, the family moved to Monticello, New York, and she graduated from its high school in 1938. The following year, she married Chester Coddington, with whom she had two sons.
For eight years, the Coddingtons lived in the Bronx, and Mrs. Coddington wrote for the Parkchester Press Review. She was also active in The Girl Scouts, and was presented with their Thanks Badge, the organization’s highest volunteer award.
In 1952, the family moved to Rye, where Mrs. Coddington was a member of the League of Women Voters, the Milton School PTA, and the high school’s Mothers Guild.
Mrs. Coddington was Social Editor of The Rye Chronicle for 30 years and worked for the Rye Free Reading Room for 25 years. She was also a frequent contributor to The Rye Record, providing features on local history. An avid reader, she was a charter member of the Fezziwigs Chapter of the International Association of Dickens Fellowships.
In 2001, Mrs. Coddington moved to Boynton Beach, Florida, where she joined the Women’s Democratic Organization, the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Boca Raton and became a Friend of the Boynton Beach Library.
She was predeceased by her husband, Chester, and brothers Clem and Bob Leffer. Mrs. Coddington is survived by her sons Richard and his wife Cynthia of Chagrin Falls, Ohio, and Barton of Aptos, California; two grandchildren, Andrew Coddington and Chrisstina Raab; two step-grandsons; four great-grandchildren; and six step-great grandchildren.
Contributions in Mrs. Coddington’s memory may be made to the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, 689 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139.
Barbara Taylor
Barbara Voorhees Taylor, 84, a resident of Rye for 46 years, died September 22 at her home on Bradford Avenue, surrounded by family and friends. She suffered from Parkinson’s disease for twenty years. She was 84.
She was born in Syracuse in 1928 to Robert L. and Gertrude S. Voorhees. While in high school, she worked in the Easy Washing Machine Company, manufacturing munitions for the American forces during World War II. She graduated from Cornell University in 1949, as did her future husband, George Taylor.
They lived wherever Mr. Taylor’s job at International Business Machines took them, including Essex and Gloucester, Massachusetts, and Endicott, New York, before moving to Rye in 1966.
After earning her Master’s degree from Manhattanville College, Mrs. Taylor worked as a second-grade teacher at Milton School. She retired in 1989.
Many of her former students and colleagues remember her fondly, and the school district benefitted from her many innovations, including the installation of reading lofts in the classrooms and the playground equipment, which she and her husband, along with others, helped to put up.
Mrs. Taylor was an avid horseback rider and baseball fan.
During their retirement years, the Taylors enjoyed their family, their garden, their life in Rye, and many years of travel throughout the United States and Europe. Mr. Taylor, to whom she was married for 50 years, passed away in 1999.
She is survived by her four children: Shelley Taylor Houis of Kent, Connecticut, Mark Robert Taylor of Newtown, Connecticut, Christopher Voorhees Taylor of Union, New Jersey, and Rebecca Lee Taylor of Rye; a sister; seven grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.
Donations in Mrs. Taylor’s memory may be made to the Rye Free Reading Room.
