Marion DiGangi

Groton — Marion L. DiGangi, 93, formerly of May Avenue, Quaker Hill, died Monday, Sept. 19, 2016, in Groton Regency Nursing Center.

She was born on Dec. 5, 1922, in New London, the daughter of Albert and Matilda (Belcher) Lorenz. She grew up on Granite Street on Groton Bank and was raised by her mother, Matilda Schramm, and a loving stepfather, Otto F. Schramm. She graduated from Fitch High School in 1941 and Joseph Lawrence School of Nursing in 1944 and was employed as a registered nurse in the delivery room at Lawrence + Memorial Hospital until her retirement in 1992. Marion loved her job and helped deliver hundreds of babies.

She was a devoted mother to her four children, providing for them after her first husband died suddenly when they were all still young. She enjoyed gardening and looked forward to her azaleas blooming in the spring. She knitted sweaters, sewed clothes and braided rugs. She wallpapered every room of her house by herself. She loved music and was always singing and dancing. Her biggest passion was travel and she visited Alaska, South America, Russia, Europe, her two husbands’ families in the old country of Italy, crawled into a foxhole in Vietnam and stood on the Great Wall of China.

Marion is predeceased by her husband of 17 years, James H. Lawrence Jr.; her second husband of 35 years, Joseph J. DiGangi; her brother, Otto Schramm; and a son, James M. Lawrence, who died tragically in a motorcycle accident in 1980.

She is survived by her three sisters, Sandra Cataldi, Dana McAllister and April Falcone; her daughters, Virginia Lawrence of Kennebunk, Maine, Joyce Springsteel (Peter) of Mystic; and a son, Jeffrey Lawrence of Quaker Hill. She has five grandchildren, Anne Bureau, Sarah Thomas, Samuel Swenson, Bennett Springsteel and Ellen Springsteel; and three great-grandchildren, Eliza Bureau, Hazel and Lila Thomas.

The family is grateful to the staff of Groton Regency for their attentive care.

Calling hours will be held from 11 a.m. to noon Saturday, Oct. 8, 2016, in Fulton-Theroux Funeral Home, 181 Ocean Ave., New London. A memorial service will follow at noon in the funeral home. Flowers are welcome. Burial is private.

Please visit www.fultontherouxnewlondon.com for photos, tributes, directions and more service information.