Myrtle McClay Ficoturo, family matriarch
This is a picture of my mom, Myrtle McClay Ficoturo June 7, 2021, on her 107th birthday, completely lucid and carrying on conversations with everyone in attendance. Myrtle passed away peacefully Saturday, July 17, at Cadia Renaissance.
Born June 7, 1914, in Chester, Pa., to George and Myrtle Thompson, she married Samuel J. McClay in 1931. My sister Dawn was born in 1932 followed by Brian in 1934 and Bill in 1938. My father died December, 1942, and I (Samuel) was born in January 1943. Mom was left with four young children and no job. My grandmother took care of us and my mother took a job taping tanks for the war effort at a Ford plant in Chester that was producing tanks. At the end of the war, mom took a sales position at Lincoln’s Department Store in downtown Chester where she worked until the ‘50s and then went to work for the Chester Credit Bureau until the early ‘70s. She also worked for Westinghouse for a few years and was a housemother at Williams Trade School.
She then worked for Meals on Wheels, where she met Fred Ficoturo, whom she married in 1982 at the age of 68. Fred passed away in 1983. Mom then lived with her granddaughter Lisa and grandson Matthew until 1998 when she moved to Lutheran Knolls Retirement Community. She remained there until 2018 at the age of 104. I then moved her to Cadia Renaissance in Millsboro, minutes from my home in Rehoboth. She didn’t especially like it there after being on her own for so many years, but she was safe and cared for.
I cherished that time I got to spend with mom and our outings around the beach area. She loved lunch or dinner at Baywood Greens which was the last place we had an outing for lunch.
Myrtle is survived by myself (Samuel McClay) and my wife Toni; daughters-in-law, Bobbi McClay, Agnes McClay and Lilliana McClay; 14 grandchildren; 17 great-grandchildren; and eight great-great-grandchildren. Myrtle was preceded in death by daughter Dawn and sons Brian and Bill.
A celebration of Myrtle’s life will be at a later date.
We would like to thank everyone at Cadia Renaissance and Delaware Hospice for their great care of my mother. God rest her soul.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorial contributions in Mrytle’s name to Delaware Hospice, 100 Patriots Way, Milford.
Online condolences can be made online at, www.melsonfuneralservices.com.
