Nancy Jean DiMaria (1947-2021)

DIMARIA, GROMKOWSKI, FRANKENBERG, O’NEILL

Posted By: Ken Wright (email)
Date: 6/15/2021 at 15:08:22

Nancy Jean DiMaria, formerly O'Neill, and a former resident of Muscatine who was living in Niles, IL and Palm Harbor, FL, died this past Friday in Florida in a traffic accident. She was 74 years old. Nancy was a retired teacher and principal, who worked at Franklin, McKinley, West and Mulberry Elementary over her 23 years living in Muscatine.

Nancy was born on May 10th, 1947, in Chicago, to Ben and Genevieve (Gromkowski) Frankenberg. She graduated from Regina Dominican High School in Wilmette, IL, and Clarke College in Dubuque and received her Master's from the University of Iowa. She was a passionate supporter of the arts and loved bringing smiles to the faces of kids through theatre. Nancy acted, sang and directed many local performances at West, MCC and with the Muscatine Masquers and was instrumental in starting a children's theatre group in Muscatine. She even arranged a class trip for West Middle School 8th graders to New York City in 1988 so they could see the sights, but mainly so they could attend Broadway shows for the first time.

After moving from Muscatine, Nancy was the principal of Woodlands School in Gurnee, IL, for 13 years until retiring in 2007. In retirement, Nancy split time between Chicago and Palm Harbor, Florida, as she loved to travel, garden, shop, play golf and mahjong with friends and committed herself to countless groups and clubs in order to learn new things and meet new faces. Along with shopping and accessorizing, she excelled at making friends due to her contagious and uplifting personality.

Nancy was preceded in death by her parents and her twin brother Bob (Chief) Frankenberg. She will be deeply missed by her husband, Frank DiMaria, her two children, Dennis (Maggie) O'Neill and her cherished grandchildren, Remy Bear and Rose Hudson, all of Brooklyn, New York, and daughter Deirdre O'Neill of Florida. She was also a cherished stepmother to Katie (Andy) Schneider of Chicago and their three children Charlie, Audrey and Max, of Chicago, Frankie (Michelle) DiMaria of Weston, CT, and Karen DiMaria of Chicago. She will also be missed by her countless friends everywhere.

There will be a memorial service this Thursday, June 17th, at Simkins Funeral Home at 6251 Dempster St., Morton Grove, IL 60053. Visitation will begin at 3 followed by a service at 7pm. Later, there will be a celebration of life party in Florida to celebrate her incredible life and all the people that she has helped and influenced over her 74 years with us. In lieu of flowers please consider donating to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in honor of Nancy Jean DiMaria at https://www.stjude.org/donate .

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Published by The Muscatine Journal on Jun. 15, 2021.