Curran

Marian (Knepper) Duecker Curran, 97, of Butler passed away early Saturday morning at the VNA Inpatient Hospice in Butler.

She was born Dec. 6, 1917, in Tiffin, Ohio, to the late Lynn and Mary (Riehm) Knepper.

Marian was a graduate of Tiffin High School and of Bowling Green University in 1939 with a degree in home economics/dietetics. She worked as a high school teacher for several years and continued her career in Industrial Dietetics. In 1971 she furthered her education at the University of Pittsburgh, obtaining a masters in special education. She designed and implemented a curriculum at Cumberland School in the North Hills to train children with mental disabilities for careers in food service. In 1975 she retired to Lake Pymatuning, Pa., where she started a bed and breakfast in her Victorian farmhouse.

Her interests included vegetable and flower gardening, gourmet cooking, reading, bird watching and antiquing. She enjoyed traveling with her family. She was always active in her church as an elder, deacon and Sunday school teacher, most recently at the Covenant Presbyterian Church in Butler. She was a devoted and involved mother, grandmother and great-grandmother and was happiest when surrounded by her family.

Surviving are her one daughter, Mary Reefer and her husband, John, of Butler; one son, Werner Duecker and his wife, Carol, of Grand Junction, Colo.; three grandchildren, Karen DeLorenzo and her husband, Matthew, of Butler, Jason Reefer and his wife, Shannon, of Pittsburgh and Beth Reefer of Pittsburgh; four great-grandchildren, Ava, Adalyn and Andrew DeLorenzo and Ella Reefer; one niece, Susan Halen; and one nephew, Michael Knepper.

In addition to her parents, she is preceded in death by her first husband, John Duecker; her second husband, Frederick Curran; her brother, Walter Knepper; and her sister-in-law, Grace Knepper.

CURRAN — There will be no visitation for Marian (Knepper) Duecker Curran, who died Saturday, April 25, 2015.

A celebration of life service will be held later at the Covenant Presbyterian Church, Butler, with interment in the Pleasant Union Cemetery in Old Fort, Ohio.

Memorial donations may be made to the Covenant Presbyterian Church, 230 E. Jefferson St., Butler PA 16001.

Arrangements are under the care of the Edward L. Raisley Funeral Home, 387 Main St., Prospect.

To leave an online tribute, please visit www.raisleyfuneralhome.com