Obituary for Marjorie Campanella (Dinwoodie)
Marjorie (Dinwoodie) Campanella of Hartford, CT (and formerly Harwich Port, MA, and Longmeadow, MA), passed away peacefully on March 8, 2021, at age 91. Born in Ashaway, Rhode Island, to Paul and Mary Dinwoodie, Marjorie was a proud descendant of Philip Sherman, one of the founding settlers of Portsmouth on Aquidneck Island (later Rhode Island) and the first secretary of the colony there. She grew up in Ashaway and graduated from Westerly High School in 1948. She attended the University of Rhode Island, where she met and fell in love with upperclassman Domenic Campanella, whom she married in 1952. She and Dom were fervent and faithful URI alumni throughout their lives, and Marjorie remained close to her Sigma Kappa Phi sorority sisters until she died. She earned degrees not only from URI but also from the University of Connecticut (master’s in psychology) and University of Massachusetts (certificate of advanced graduate study, also in psychology).
During her career in education, she worked as a home economics teacher and then, for most of her professional life, a school psychologist for the school systems of Agawam and Falmouth in Massachusetts and Johnston County in North Carolina. For many years she was a Girl Scout leader and considered that experience to be the source of some of her happiest times. She retired to Cape Cod in 1996 and with her husband ran a bed-and-breakfast guest house until Dom’s death in 2009. On the Cape, Marjorie (known by most as Margie) was a member of the Holy Trinity Church (Harwich) women’s guild and volunteered at Cape Cod Museum of Fine Arts. In 2016 Margie moved from the Cape to Connecticut to be near her son and daughter-in-law, and she loved being part of the Middlewoods of Farmington community. In late 2019 she moved to Avery Heights, a skilled nursing facility where she received excellent care and much love, especially from Cheryl, Kristen and Sue.
Throughout her life she was a member of multiple bridge clubs and book groups. Reading was one of her favorite pastimes, and when macular degeneration made reading too difficult, she became a voracious and grateful consumer of books on tape delivered from the Connecticut Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. She also enjoyed sewing, cooking, gardening, antiquing, knitting and crocheting. Her children and grandchildren all will be able to wrap themselves in warm and wonderful memories of her because all of them received beautiful afghans knit with love specially for them over the years. Margie loved the beach and seafood, and she was always a fan of movies, music, and most of all opera. In her early 80s she enrolled in a course on opera at Hyannis Community College, and at age 85 she took up the ukulele! Her greatest joys in life were her close friends and extended family, so the pandemic-induced isolation of the past year was truly heartbreaking.
Margie’s strength, spunk, and indomitable spirit, even when times got tough, inspired many. She leaves to cherish her memory her son and daughter-in-law, Joseph and Linda Campanella of West Hartford, CT; a daughter and son-in-law, Judith and Vincent Fanuele of Hull, MA; five grandchildren: Luke Fanuele and wife Keeley, Jessi Fanuele and wife Paula Carney, Paul Campanella and wife Emily, Steven Campanella, and Philip Campanella. She also leaves six great-grandchildren and many nieces and nephews. She was predeceased not only by her husband, but also by her sister and brothers: Pauline Fenelon and Paul F., Rolfe W., and Robert Dinwoodie.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at Our Lady of Victory Roman Catholic Church, 169 Main St., Ashaway, RI, on Saturday, March 13, at 11:00AM. Social distancing and face masks will be required. The Mass will be live-streamed on the church’s Facebook page.
The family will receive visitors during the hour before the Mass. Burial will be private.
The family will host a celebration of Margie’s life when it is once again safe for crowds to gather. In lieu of sending flowers, those who wish to make a donation in Marjorie’s memory may contribute to The Connecticut Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, 198 West Street, Rocky Hill, CT 06067. Funeral arrangements are entrusted to Gaffney-Dolan Funeral Home, 59 Spruce St., Westerly, RI. For more information or to leave online condolences visit www.gaffneydolanfuneralhome.com
During her career in education, she worked as a home economics teacher and then, for most of her professional life, a school psychologist for the school systems of Agawam and Falmouth in Massachusetts and Johnston County in North Carolina. For many years she was a Girl Scout leader and considered that experience to be the source of some of her happiest times. She retired to Cape Cod in 1996 and with her husband ran a bed-and-breakfast guest house until Dom’s death in 2009. On the Cape, Marjorie (known by most as Margie) was a member of the Holy Trinity Church (Harwich) women’s guild and volunteered at Cape Cod Museum of Fine Arts. In 2016 Margie moved from the Cape to Connecticut to be near her son and daughter-in-law, and she loved being part of the Middlewoods of Farmington community. In late 2019 she moved to Avery Heights, a skilled nursing facility where she received excellent care and much love, especially from Cheryl, Kristen and Sue.
Throughout her life she was a member of multiple bridge clubs and book groups. Reading was one of her favorite pastimes, and when macular degeneration made reading too difficult, she became a voracious and grateful consumer of books on tape delivered from the Connecticut Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. She also enjoyed sewing, cooking, gardening, antiquing, knitting and crocheting. Her children and grandchildren all will be able to wrap themselves in warm and wonderful memories of her because all of them received beautiful afghans knit with love specially for them over the years. Margie loved the beach and seafood, and she was always a fan of movies, music, and most of all opera. In her early 80s she enrolled in a course on opera at Hyannis Community College, and at age 85 she took up the ukulele! Her greatest joys in life were her close friends and extended family, so the pandemic-induced isolation of the past year was truly heartbreaking.
Margie’s strength, spunk, and indomitable spirit, even when times got tough, inspired many. She leaves to cherish her memory her son and daughter-in-law, Joseph and Linda Campanella of West Hartford, CT; a daughter and son-in-law, Judith and Vincent Fanuele of Hull, MA; five grandchildren: Luke Fanuele and wife Keeley, Jessi Fanuele and wife Paula Carney, Paul Campanella and wife Emily, Steven Campanella, and Philip Campanella. She also leaves six great-grandchildren and many nieces and nephews. She was predeceased not only by her husband, but also by her sister and brothers: Pauline Fenelon and Paul F., Rolfe W., and Robert Dinwoodie.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at Our Lady of Victory Roman Catholic Church, 169 Main St., Ashaway, RI, on Saturday, March 13, at 11:00AM. Social distancing and face masks will be required. The Mass will be live-streamed on the church’s Facebook page.
The family will receive visitors during the hour before the Mass. Burial will be private.
The family will host a celebration of Margie’s life when it is once again safe for crowds to gather. In lieu of sending flowers, those who wish to make a donation in Marjorie’s memory may contribute to The Connecticut Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, 198 West Street, Rocky Hill, CT 06067. Funeral arrangements are entrusted to Gaffney-Dolan Funeral Home, 59 Spruce St., Westerly, RI. For more information or to leave online condolences visit www.gaffneydolanfuneralhome.com