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Marie Fazzone Little
Date of Death: March 9, 2014
Date of Birth: November 21, 1926
Biography:
Marie Fazzone Little, 88, passed away on March 9 at Midcoast Hospital
in Brunswick after a period of failing health. She was attended by her two loving
sons John B. Little III of Worcester, Massachusetts, and Max P. Little of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Her beloved husband, John B. Little, Jr. had died in 1991. She was pre-deceased by her brothers Anthony, Patrick, and Frank Fazzone and her niece Susan Fazzone. She is survived by nephews Patrick, James, Raymond, and Tom Fazzone and great-nephews Patrick, Andrew, and Gregory Fazzone and great-nieces Stephanie and Alexandra Fazzone.
Marie was born into an Italian immigrant family in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
She kept many of the cultural traditions of her forebears while
finding her own way with great independence and strength of character. She
was the first woman in her family to attend college -- first Connecticut College,
then the University of New Hampshire, and finally Washington University in Saint
Louis, Missouri where she did all the course work for a Ph.D. in political science.
She taught political science briefly at Elmira College in Elmira, New York, and
later for many years at Mansfield University in Mansfield, Pennsylvania. She was
a student of American and international political systems and in later years a faithful
MSNBC viewer. She always loved to discuss politics and debate public policy
and inspired many of her students to pursue careers in related fields.
She retired from teaching in 1987 and moved to Maine in 2000 to be near
the seacoast and the ocean she loved. She lived for many years at the Highlands
in Topsham where she made many friends and had recently moved to HillHouse in
Bath at the time of her death.
In this area, she served for several years as a volunteer at Midcoast Hospital
and the Midcoast Hunger Prevention Soup Kitchen. She was a voracious reader,
and participated in two different book groups in the Brunswick-Topsham
area for a number of years. She was an avid duplicate and "kitchen" bridge player
and had recently begun playing bridge online as well. In earlier years, she
played tennis regularly and she still followed professional tennis with great
interest. She also grew to love the Red Sox even though all of her family
had been Yankee fans when she was growing up. While she was still able to do so,
she faithfully attended the Saturday matinee simulcasts from the Metropolitan Opera
with friends and was developing a taste for Wagner to match her initial love of
Italian opera. At first with her husband and later on her own, she traveled
extensively to all parts of Europe, Russia, Turkey, and South America with Elderhostel and other guided tour groups. She treasured all the memories from those trips.