Marcia Keeney Froh, of Groton Long Point, CT and Spring Hill, FL, passed peacefully from this world on Saturday, October 13, 2018 at Yale New Haven Hospital attended by her loving family and the wonderfully compassionate staff.
Marcia was born in Manchester, CT March 28, 1933 to Arthur H, Keeney and Charlotte Treat Keeney. In addition to her passion for learning, her childhood included diverse interests: lobstering and voyaging in her little Noank-built rowboat, perusing tool catalogs, doing home projects with her father, and training as a soprano with her piano teacher mother. She suffered the great loss of her only sibling, Arthur H. Keeney Jr. (Bud), Engineering Officer aboard the US submarine Lagarto in the Pacific near the end of WWII. She graduated from Oxford School in West Hartford, CT, attended Mount Holyoke College, and graduated with an associates degree from Hartford College for Women. She worked briefly in banking along with her father.
Marcia met her future husband Philip C. Froh on a blind date at a dance, beginning a romance that spanned 64 years of marriage. Phil and Marcia were married in Center Congregational Church in Manchester, and they raised their family while also caring for their widowed mothers at their Church Street home, setting examples of devotion that remain deeply embedded in their family.
When her children reached adulthood Marcia filled her life with activities that included joining her husband in his golfing passion and presiding over golf leagues, eye-opening travel to the Middle East with her church group, teaching English to adult refugees from Southeast Asian genocide, hands-on remodeling of the Groton Long Point cottage and managing the difficult move there from the 4-generation family homestead in Manchester, and creating their cozy winter nest in Spring Hill, FL. During this time she became stricken with sarcoidosis, a respiratory difficulty that she would bravely live with for 25 years. Unable to remain as physically active, she developed her talents as an artist and created a legacy of beautiful paintings that her family and friends treasure.
Marcia’s greatest legacy is the sweet commitment she and her husband shared, and her always-mindful caring, generosity, and sage counseling.
Marcia is survived by husband Phil, son Richard and his wife June of Mystic, CT, daughter Gwen Froh and her husband Richard Dowd of Fairfax, CA, granddaughter Paris Dowd and grandson Camden Dowd, both of Fairfax, CA, nephew Arthur H. (Art) Keeney III and his wife Alice of Engelhard, NC., and Art’s mother Margaret (Peg) Sterns of Avon, CT.
Calling hours will be Thursday, October 18, 4-6 pm at the Dinoto Funeral Home, 17 Pearl Street, Mystic, CT 06355. A brief memorial service will follow at 6:00pm. A private burial will be at the East Cemetery, Manchester, Connecticut on Friday, October 19. As an option to flowers donations in her memory may be made to the American Lung Association, 45 Ash St., East Hartford, CT 06108, or the Center for Hospice Care, 227 Dunham St., Norwich, CT 06360.
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