Marion Faris

Hello All,
This is Marion's daughter, Lori, speaking. Mom passed away Friday, March 17, 2017 after a rough couple of years with ol' father time. It is rather fitting, however, that her final hours were on St. Patrick's Day. Mom's mother immigrated to the states from Ireland in the 1920's. Her name was Mary O'Malley. Mary was one of 11 children. My mom's dad, Harry Suderman, immigrated to the US from Canada. He came from a family of 13 kids. The brothers and sisters of both Mary and Harry also had large families. I am sure they thought it strange when Mary and Harry only had two children. My mom came first and sister Patricia arrived 3 years later.
Mom was born on September 1, 1929 in Glendale, California. Everybody was born in Glendale, California, it seems. My dad was, and both my brother, Ron, and I were. The Suderman's lived on Grinnell Street in Burbank and made many lifelong friends with the neighbors who also had kids my mom's and aunt's ages. I know my mom kept in touch with many of those friends well into adulthood. Mom graduated from Burbank High School (as did my dad, my brother and I!). Then she went to Woodbury College in Los Angeles where she had several classes with my dad. Mom had spied Johnny on the street car from Burbank to LA and plotted to get herself noticed. Finally, Johnny did notice her and liked what he saw, and the rest, they say, is history.
Mom and Dad were married on January 14, 1950 in an evening ceremony and honeymooned in Laguna Beach. Our family would take many trips to Laguna Beach over the years. I remember playing shuffle board at one of the nice parks overlooking the ocean. Of course we would also do normal beach stuff like lay on the sand, picnic, go in the water and toss a ball around.
My brother and I were lucky to have a stay-at-home mom. Dinner was always ready when dad came home. My mom was an excellent cook. I like to think I am a good cook too and I owe it all to her. Mom also helped us with our homework. I remember her helping with me with my French language class. She would try to pronounce the word or phrase in French and I was supposed to translate to English. Her pronunciation was atrocious and we used to howl with laughter!
We had a close knit extended family growing up. Because my Grandmother and Grandfather (affectionately dubbed by Ron at an early age, Momo and Bobo) lived a few blocks away and Aunt Pat and Uncle Barry and cousins Debi and Scott also lived in Burbank, we spent every holiday together. Every year, my Grandmother would have the Thanksgiving dinner, for example, and either my mom or Aunt Pat would have the Christmas dinner. And that's how it went for all the biggies, including Easter, of course, with a good number of 4th of July BBQs thrown in.
We took quite a few family trips - Yosemite, Santa Rosa to visit my Dad's side of the family, Uncle Willy, Uncle Charlie and cousins Susan, Michelle and David. We also took some long trips as my dad was able to take a whole month off work during the summer. We DROVE all the way to the east coast to take in New York, Washington DC, Boston, then we had to turn around and drive back. But we stopped along the way. I am not sure if it was this trip but on one of them we visited Yellowstone/Grand Tetons, the Grand Canyon and a few places in Colorado including the Air Force Academy. That's when Ron fell in love with it and it was his goal to attend. Ron was accepted and made it through all four grueling years. Back in the early seventies, there were no women students and the instructors were really tough on the guys. My mom would say later, after Ron died in a plane crash at Edwards Air Force Base that she wished we had never made that trip.
Mom went to work after I left for UCLA. We were still living on Cypress in Burbank so my mom went to work for the school district. Then she was hired to work at NBC. My Aunt Pat worked there so I guess she knew of an opening. It was in the Compliance and Practices department. That department dealt with the game shows and securing the agreements with the sponsors that provided the cars, furs, trips, etc. for the contestants to win. She enjoyed it but it seemed a bit stressful so she took early retirement.
Then the BIG travels began - the cruises, the trips to Hawaii, vising the Irish relatives in Ireland. Sometimes, it would be just mom and dad, sometimes the trips were with Pat and Barry and then later, the trips often included granddaughters, Kasey and Brooke.
Both my mom and dad were particularly fond of the neighbor kids when they lived in San Clemente. Annie, Gracie and Jon were as close as you can get to grandkids without being related.
My mom inherited my Grandmother's flair for dressing well. Mom loved her clothes and jewelry. She also had an eye for interior decorating, having studied that in college. I think that is what most people who knew my mom will remember about her - her beautiful homes, her beautiful clothes and the way she wore them and the jewelry. There was more to her than just those material things, however. Her friends and family will remember her kindness and caring and genuine interest in everyone.