Obituary of Marilyn Diane Pietromonaco

OBITUARY FOR MARILYN PIETROMONACO Marilyn Pietromonaco, a dedicated teacher and beloved mother and grandmother, passed away on January 24, 2024 at the age of 74. She was born Marilyn Reed on February 1, 1949. She grew up in Brooklyn and spent many childhood summers visiting her extended family on her grandmother’s farm in Wisconsin. She moved to Staten Island after landing a job to teach at IS 51 (Edwin Markham) in 1970. She taught math to seventh and eighth grade students for 35 years – a subject she loved for its precise answers and lack of essay questions to grade. She inspired students to strive for their best, and she had an incredible mathematical mind and a knack for how to explain even the most complicated equations. She spent nearly her entire career teaching in the same classroom, with desks always neatly in a perfect row. Her next-door neighbor was a loud and wise-cracking fellow math teacher named Emil Pietromonaco. At first he was her greatest annoyance, but later became her greatest love. The two mathematicians married in March of 1979, and together had three daughters and countless dogs, cats, and birds that populated their loving home in Port Richmond for over four decades. In addition to teaching, Marilyn wore many other hats: she was a softball coach, school programmer, religious instructor, avid Mets and Jets fans, expert gardener, and the original voice of GPS in every car ride. But no job gave her greater joy than the job of being Gram to nine wonderful grandchildren. She reveled in spoiling them, and routinely showered them with love by way of cheers and screams from the bleachers of their sporting games, flowers and candy after their dance recitals, and mountains of gifts, carefully curated to perfectly suit whatever they were interested in at the moment. Her love language was shopping, and she knew no bounds when it came to giving them each special tokens of her affection. UPS and Amazon delivery men always knew when one of the grandkids had a birthday and she will always be remembered for her porch filled with packages and a house filled with love. In addition to her many talents, she also had many great passions. She loved to watch the Food Network, and her favorite thing to do was to talk about food, while eating food, and then figuring out where to get other food. When she craved it, she bought it, and she always was a hit at parties for bringing the perfect treat. She also loved to watch Dancing with the Stars, General Hospital, and Gilmore Girls, but nothing rivaled her love for Grey’s Anatomy. She hated injustice of all kinds, but especially trained her ire on refs, umps, and various judges on reality shows. She loved word games and crossword puzzles, decaf iced and hot coffee, scratch offs, and never ever let you win in a board game. She is survived by her husband of nearly 45 years, Emil; her daughters Jenny Spirocostas and her husband Nicholas; Becky Mele and her husband Nicholas; Holly Van Buren and her husband Michael; her stepson Chris Pietromonaco and his wife Lillian; and her brother John Reed, of Madison, WI. She is also survived by her grandchildren Christian Pietromonaco, AnnaRose and Chris Spirocostas, Izzy, Abby, Nicholas, and Violet Mele, and Sam and Tess Van Buren. She had countless beloved friends and colleagues, and an extended family that she cherished beyond measure. She is preceded in death by her parents, Raymond and Lucille Reed, her stepdaughter Tara Pietromonaco, and many beloved pets who are waiting for her on the other side of the rainbow bridge. She will be missed terribly by all who loved her, and the mighty army of students and people she impacted with her incredible generosity and kind and gentle spirit. Funeral from the Matthew Funeral Home Inc., 2508 Victory Blvd. on Saturday, 1/27/2024, departing at 9:00 AM. Funeral Mass will be celebrated in Holy Family R.C. Church at 9:30 AM. Interment will follow in Moravian Cemetery. Family and friends may visit on Friday, 1/26/2024, from 2:00 to 4:00 PM and 7:00 to 9:00 PM.