Mary Ann Ginocchio

Mary Ann Ginocchio (née Leslie), a world traveler, has embarked on the journey of a lifetime. Mary Ann would like you to know that her work here is done. She received an offer she couldn’t refuse for a trip from which she will not return. It came with huge benefits though, including a reunion with family and friends she has not seen in a long time. 
 
Her journey on earth began on October 20, 1939, when she was born to Leona and Edward Leslie. Mary Ann’s love for her Irish heritage (and Irish whiskey) was instilled by her Grandma Leslie. Mary Ann’s spunky Irish spirit came in handy when growing up the oldest girl in a family of seven children, including five brothers, with a penchant for mischief and mayhem. Mary Ann’s siblings (Edward, Robert, Dennis, Michael, Linda, and “he who shall not be named”) all felt the wrath, I mean, the loving discipline of their older sister, who was often tasked with keeping them in line and posting bail if needed. Her steadfast support left marks (mainly the permanent scars left on their arms from her nails) that are lasting reminders of her love for them to this day.  
 
Mary Ann attended and graduated from Barat College, a Sacred Heart school. Exhausted from her brothers, Mary Ann chose to teach English at St. Scholastica, an all-girls Catholic school in Chicago, IL. She retired from teaching shortly after marrying the love of her life, Stephen D. Ginocchio, in 1965. She embraced the Italian heritage of her husband and his family, learning to make pasta from scratch with the same skill as making her grandmother’s Irish soda bread. After years of penance helping raise her younger siblings, Mary Ann and Steve were blessed with four perfect angels, David, John, Susan, and Jeanne, the authors of this obituary who never gave her a bit of trouble.  
 
In 1967 Mary Ann and Steve made a home for their family in Kettering, Ohio, then Waynesville, Ohio, where they lived for over 20 years. During her years as a homemaker and mother, Mary Ann’s fighting Irish spirit kept her active outside the home in her church as a lector and Eucharistic minister, and in her community as a volunteer soccer coach and a part-time librarian. If Mary Ann saw something was needed, she took charge. She worked to make things happen, whether heading the religious education program at St. Augustine’s Catholic Church for several years or starting the Waynesville Soccer Association when her kids wanted to play soccer, but there was no local program available. She always supported her children in pursuing and developing their talents and became a full-time chauffeur to swim practices, 4-H, guitar lessons, band camps, and soccer games.  
 
After their children were grown, Steve and Mary Ann retired to Kimberling City, Missouri. They continued to be active members in their new church, Our Lady of the Cove Catholic Church. They made many good friends and enjoyed traveling the world together. They were blessed with wonderful daughters- and sons-in-law, as well as eight grandchildren, Kayli, Emily, Jacob, Hope, Billy, Julia, Ella, and Isabella.  
 
When Steve passed away in 2013, Mary Ann began a new adventure in Lake Saint Louis, Missouri. Again, she remained devoted to her Catholic faith and continued to serve as a lector in her new parish, St. Gianna Catholic Church. She made great friends in the Hawk Ridge community and “tried to play golf.”  She also continued to enjoy traveling the world as well. Whether traveling on her own with tours to Israel, Jordan, and Egypt or traveling with friends and family, Mary Ann continued to live life to its fullest, with a small toast of Paddy’s at the end of each day.  

And so it seems only fitting that her friends and family say farewell by raising a glass to this wonderful wife, mother, and friend with an old Irish blessing, “...until meet again, my God hold you in the palm of His hand” Sláinte 

Memorials may be made in Mary's name to Catholic Charities.  

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