Margaret Pearl Mauro Wooding

Margaret Pearl Mauro Wooding

Margaret was born on November 23rd, 1925 in Schenectady, NY.

She was a graduate of Vocational High School in Schenectady, NY. Margaret was given a merit award in high school by being able to take error free shorthand and type error free at over 100 words per minutes in each skill.

She was married on September 10th, 1950 to Richard Wooding. Before Margaret was married she was employed as a legal secretary for the Tully Law firm and then at the Schenectady YMCA. Margaret met her husband at the YMCA when Richard Wooding was then a repairman for the A.B. Dick Office Supply and Copy Machine Company. Richard had visited the Schenectady YMCA to repair an office machine when they met. Richard subsequently went on to a career at the Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation. The marriage took place at St. Paul the Apostle Church in Schenectady. Margaret had grown up not far away on Filmore Avenue in Schenectady. The wedding reception was held at the Fuller Road Fire Department Hall in Albany. At that time this part of Albany and neighboring Colonie was very much open space with very little development. The honeymoon trip was to Old Orchard Beach in Maine. Margaret and Richard made their first home at an apartment on Ontario Street in Albany.

The couples first child Richard came along in January 1953 while they were still in the apartment on Ontario Street. By the Fall of 1953 they had moved into a new home on Lanci Lane in Colonie. The home was built in large part by Margaret's uncles who were in the home building contracting business. The home was built with care and very sturdy. A condition of acquiring the building lot on Lanci Lane was that the home's exterior be built of red brick. The couples second child David arrived in April 1954 and the third child a daughter, Margaret arrived in December 1955.

Margaret was a stay at home mother for many years. Both Margaret and Richard were very responsible parents and their family lived modestly but was never lacking the means for all that was needed to run the household. Through planning and saving Margaret and Richard were able to send their children to catholic elementary and high school. They also had planned ahead and set aside more than enough funds for their children's higher education.

Margaret was actively involved in St. Clare's Catholic Church. By volunteer work at the church, it had become known that Margaret had valuable secretarial and organizational skills. Margaret was invited to become the St. Clare Parish Secretary and she accepted the offer in 1969 at a point where all her children were now of high school age. Margaret's work schedule was such that she could see her husband and children off to work and school and still be home in time to greet them when they returned. Margaret worked as the secretary at St. Clare's Church for 27 years until she retired in January of 1996.

By 1980, the children were on their way to making their own lives. Margaret and Richard were planning to do some traveling as now they had more time. They had outfitted a camper van and were able to take some extended trips in it. In the meantime, Richard had been experiencing some health problems. In the spring of 1980, he suffered a heart failure and passed at a relatively young age. This loss proved hard for Margaret to accept as they had seemingly done all the hard work and now it was time to enjoy life a little. In the end it turned out that Margaret did not seek out another companion for the rest of her life as she had decided that Richard was the only one that suited her.

As time went on, she continued to live at Lanci Lane and maintained her own home until she was well into her eighth decade of life. Even though Margaret could have probably bought anything or go anywhere she wanted, she continued to live modestly. Her main large pleasure was buying a new car every four or five years.

As Margaret advanced into her late eighties and early 90s she was still at home on Lanci Lane but made frequent trips to rehabilitation facilities due to falls and mishaps at home. Margaret finally moved with much reluctance to an assisted living facility and then to a nursing home as her abilities to care for herself declined.

Margaret showed signs of having a hard life as a young lady growing up in the era of the great depression followed by World War II. Margaret was honest beyond question and tried to do the right things in the world as she saw it. She devoted here resources to her husband, children and grand children. Margaret was a great believer in supporting charity causes throughout her life to help other in need. Even though she had worked at St Clare's Church for many years it might have been that based on her contributions here net earnings were close to zero. Margaret worked hard, tried her best to lead a good lifer in the eyes of the God she believed in. The world surely was a better place when she was here as she believed in doing the right thing.

Relatives and friends are invited to attend her calling hours on Monday May 2, 2022 from 12 to 2 p.m. at New Comer Cremations & Funerals, 343 New Karner Road, Colonie, New York 12205. All are invited to attend her funeral service at the funeral home following at 2 p.m. Interment will be in Evergreen Memorial Park.

Memorial contributions in her memory may be made to the Alzheimer's Association, 1003 New Loudon Road, Suite 201, Cohoes, NY 12047.