Mary Ella Savarino

Mary Ella Savarino, 80, passed away at home on November 11, 2017 in Indianapolis, Indiana. We, her family, have tried to articulate Mary Ella’s life and capture her spirit in an obituary that is full of love, but a little irreverent, just like she was. We’ll brag a bit more than she would prefer, and hope we don’t disappoint her with any grammatical errors in this attempt. And if she wouldn’t have liked this obituary, then she should have written her own.

Mary Ella was born May 7, 1937 in Iron Mountain, MI, to Dorothy (MacDonald) and Joseph Giovannini. Named after her grandmothers, she always went by Mary Ella and if you tried to call her Mary, she’d set you straight. In school, she had a gang of good friends and excelled in debate, a skill she continued to exercise throughout her life (whether you liked it or not). She graduated Valedictorian from Manistique High School in 1955. Mary Ella then entered the novitiate at Holy Family Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity, graduated from Silver Lake College, and remained in the convent as Sister Adrienne for ten years. She made several lifelong friends there and kept in touch throughout the years.

After leaving the convent, she attended Marquette University where she met Joseph Savarino at a joint Philosophy-Religion department picnic. She received her Master’s in Philosophy in 1966 and married Joe on March 18, 1967. They moved to Iowa City in 1968, and spent the next 47 years there.

Mary Ella and Joe welcomed three children: Gianna, Damian, and Malia. We (her kids) have wonderful memories of special cut-out birthday cakes, her homemade spaghetti sauce, sun tea and hot cocoa mix, making cookies and paper chains at Christmas, the “kids milk” in the green jug, and the spearmint water she gave us when we got sick. She taught us to make Cornish pasties, lentil soup, pie crusts, and biscotti, and made sure we knew how to fold laundry (mainly by tossing it to where we were sitting to fold ourselves). She was a patient mom, but could stop us with a look when her patience ran out, or silence us just by touching her index finger to her lips. We certainly tested her patience, leaving her so aggravated and flustered once that she told us to “Keep your hands to each other!” which we promptly did, and irritated her even more (“You know what I meant!”). Her summer school worksheets were not appreciated at the time, but she endured us tickling her feet in the pool all summer (and she really hated that).

Mary Ella mothered more than her three children—through her in-home daycare, as a Camp Fire Girl leader, and several special friends. She considered them and their families as part of her own. If you find yourself saying “You are in charge of yourself,” or separating your kids to get everyone’s version of what happened, you probably have Mary Ella to thank for it. She treated all the kids with respect, was judicious in her discipline (in retrospect) and generous with her bear hugs; and even though she was usually right, she always apologized if she was wrong.

Mary Ella returned to graduate school at age 45, and Joe agreed it would be good for us kids to see her as more than wife and mother. We were on board with this idea, until Mary Ella assigned each of us a room to clean every Saturday and created a weekly chart for setting the table, making dinner, and doing dishes. But it taught us the importance of contributing to the house, and those pesky life skills. In spite of “do not disturb” instructions, we still sought her out, and it’s a wonder she completed her graduate work and wrote a dissertation on virtue and ethics (and maintained her own!) in the face of persistent children. Mary Ella received her Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Iowa in 1988, and taught at Hood College in Frederick, MD and Divine Word College Seminary in Dubuque, IA.

Mary Ella always encouraged her children to “Go! Live your life!” Any regrets in our moving away were tempered by her pride in what we were doing and having taken her advice. She can’t contradict us, so we’re sticking to that story.

Despite a coronary artery disease diagnosis in 1995, she and Joe became globe trotters in their 60s and 70s initiating their overseas travel with a trip to Belarus, Lithuania, and Russia in 1997, which resulted in a new diagnosis of wanderlust. Mary Ella connected with her MacDonald heritage, and discovered single malt scotch, during vacations to Scotland. She especially enjoyed visiting relatives in Italy and Sicily, which inspired her to learn Italian to correspond with them. After 35 years, Mary Ella finally got the recipe for the baked macaroni (pasta al forno), that Joe remembered from his childhood.  By virtue of Gianna’s nomadic career, Mary Ella and Joe journeyed to unusual places including Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan, where Mary Ella even stayed in a yurt. She and Joe traveled to hear Damian perform in opera programs around the country (Michigan, Colorado, Ohio, and Des Moines), and made a habit of annual “death by opera” weekends. Having helped all three of her children attend the colleges of their choice, and providing financial assistance as needed, we encouraged her and Joe to spend our inheritance on themselves.

She loved a good party and had a blast when Damian married Tara Bowers and Malia married Dana Vanaman. She even wore makeup and had her hair done. Her grandsons gave Mary Ella particular joy. Dominic, Luca, and Giovanni Savarino visited Coralville every summer and made their own memories at the pool, campfire picnics, and in the heart of Mary Ella’s house: the kitchen. Twins Jackson and Kellan Vanaman were the cutest reasons on the “pro” side for Joe and Mary Ella to relocate to a retirement community in Indianapolis in 2015. There, she was happy to join them in outings to the zoo, the children’s museum, and the movies—her bum hip be damned.

Mary Ella made friends easily, and found kindred spirits during her short time at Robin Run Village. We are grateful for those who helped make her and Joe feel at home.

Joe and Mary Ella were married for 50 years and 9 months, and were partners in the truest sense of the word. Their genuine friendship, mutual respect, and loving care for each other set an extraordinary example for others. Joe has spoken about the significance of marriage in being a witness to each other’s lives, and they fulfilled that promise by sharing everything life offered, from the marvelous to the mundane, with their affection and humor intact.

Mary Ella had great love for her siblings, Dan (Kathy, d. 1998), Dorothy, and Geri (Don) Zanon, and her niece and nephews. Annual visits with the Giovanninis and Zanons guaranteed lively conversation so vigorous it was hard to get a word in (and you had better bring your reference resources!), and ended with cheeks and sides sore from laughing. Her passing leaves a void at their table.

Over the years, Mary Ella’s communities of faith included the Newman Center, Emmaus Community, St. Mary’s, Divine Word, and Scripture study. More than anything, she seemed to embrace a theology centered simply on God’s love. Before her passing, she reflected on her belief in the Aristotelian principle that virtue is its own reward—that our goal in this life should be to be a virtuous human being. And if there is a question of a reward for a good life after death, that’s God’s problem.

We always want more time, but 80 years leaves little room for complaint, and an already very long obituary. She had a wonderful life that impacted many people in big and small ways. She indulged her passion for crosswords and Sudoku puzzles, reading mysteries, teaching, traveling, music, current events, and Iowa Hawkeye basketball. Her greatest pleasures were her family and friends, and sharing good conversation with them while breaking bread together. We raise a toast for her: sister, friend, wife, mother, and grandmother.

Mary Ella is survived by her husband, Joe, her children Gianna Josephine Savarino, Damian (Tara) Savarino, and Malia (Dana) Vanaman, grandsons Dominic, Luca, and Giovanni Savarino, and twins Jackson and Kellan Vanaman, and siblings, Dan Giovannini, Dorothy Giovannini, and Geri (Don) Zanon, as well as many nieces and nephews, and a lifetime of friends. She will be remembered for her innate ability to put people at ease, her kindness, good humor, quick wit, and astute advice, her big smile, bigger laugh, and bear hugs, her feisty and adventurous spirit, and the twinkle in her blue eyes. She was a thoughtful listener, a deep thinker, and a wise woman who loved deeply and with her whole heart.

A memorial celebration will be held in Iowa City in April 2018. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to your local NPR/PBS station or Heifer International. In lieu of anything else, just be an excellent—and virtuous—human being.