Madeline Carol Corradi's Obituary
Madeline Carol (Schepanski) Corradi, 81, went to be with the Lord on Sunday, May 5, 2024, after a long, courageous battle with ovarian cancer.
Madeline, known by one and all as 'Maggie', or 'Miss Wonderful', grew up in Glen Cove, New York, on Long Island. She came from a hard-working family of five sisters and four brothers, many of whom were amateur musicians; an older sister, Caroline, played the accordion, her brother, Pete, played the sax, while Muzzy (Edward), played a wicked harmonica, so there was always music, particularly polkas, in Maggie's early life.
Maggie was an active child; she could kick a football 20 yards, play shortstop, and hammer a baseball out of sight. She always took her athleticism for granted, but her classmates voted her 'Most Athletic.' She became the head majorette in the high school band in her senior year, which was when she met John, her husband-to-be, and they began dating. Three years later, Maggie pinned on John's Wings of Gold as a Naval Aviator.
After John's tour of duty in the Navy, the young couple wound up in Virginia, where they bought their beautiful farm in Rixeyville, and with her typical enthusiasm, Maggie took to farming like the country girl she was at heart, helping with all the farm chores. When the kids came along, she really blossomed as a mother; Maggie was always the class Mom, always volunteering for this and that, but that wasn't enough; she and John became foster parents. There was never a disadvantaged child that Maggie didn't love, and she became a surrogate mother to dozens of babies and children over the years, which her children, Johnny and Suzanne, bless them, accepted as long-lost playmates.
Maggie's loving ways and her special qualities did not go unnoticed. Father Leo Zonneveld, her beloved Parish Priest at the time, asked Maggie to become a Eucharistic Minister, to help him distribute communion to other Catholics. Maggie was one of the first women so honored.
Maggie was a dancer; her youthful ambition was to become a Radio City Rockette. Though she never realized that dream, when a few local ladies organized dance and exercise classes back in the seventies, Maggie jumped right in and found her calling. She quickly became an instructor and particularly loved teaching older ladies (and the occasional gentleman) dance/exercise routines, many of her own choreography. She wound up teaching at The Culpeper, formerly the Baptist Retirement Home, where she has taught, and brought boundless joy, to 'Her ladies' for well over thirty years. Somewhere along there, Maggie found time to teach country line dancing when that became the rage. She even taught John to dance and dragged him along to her classes for about ten years.
When John bought an old biplane and ran off to join the circus (the Flying Circus, in far-off Bealeton, Virginia) Maggie went along for the ride, where she soon became the 'Queen of Concessions' running the snack bar for almost twenty years. John, Jr., Suzanne, and Brittany had no choice but to join in, and for many Sundays during the season, that was her life. It was hard work, but fun!
Maggie is predeceased by her parents Edward and Mary Schepanski, by her siblings Caroline Cernowski, Mary Sanfratello, Dorothy Pietrofere, Pete, Johnny, and Richard Schepanski, and by her daughter Suzanne. She is survived by her husband John, son John, Jr. and granddaughter Madelyn, by Johnny's fiance Brittany and her daughter Julianna, as well as by her sisters Jean Albanese and Sophie McCabe, her brother Edward, sister-in-law Joan Casali and her husband John, and lots of beloved nieces and nephews.
A Celebration of Life will be held at the Culpeper Regional Airport in the CAF (Commemorative Air Force) hangar on Saturday, May 18 from 1:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. All are welcome.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Maggie’s memory to Nizinkirck Animal Rescue, 68 Glenwood Rd, Troy, NY 12180.
An online guestbook and tribute wall are available at www.foundandsons.com
Found and Sons Funeral Chapel of Culpeper is serving the family.
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