Obituary of Ellen O'Neill Mares

Ellen O’Neill Mareş

b. 1960 - d. 2018

Ellen O’Neill Mareş, 58, passed away on Sunday, September 16th at peace in her own home in Forest Hills, NY. She was mother to Isabel Maria Mareş of Brooklyn, NY and Emma Carolyn Mareş of Chicago, IL, devoted wife to the late George Mareş, and a cherished teacher of Spanish and Italian for nearly thirty years. Ellen was the youngest daughter of John Arthur Beach of Bonita Springs, FL and the late Victoria Gorcoff Beach, and beloved sister of Carolyn Welcome of Santa Rosa, CA, Ann Beach of Sharon, MA, and George Beach of Albany, NY. She, too, was the aunt of James Welcome, Charles Welcome, the late Victoria McManus, Caroline McManus Stockwell, Juliet Welcome, and Katherine McManus.

Born in 1960 in Syracuse, NY, Ellen quickly discovered that a birthplace is merely a starting point. Her passion for learning and performing took her from modern dance, to Mediterranean lands of romance and mysticism, to a three-decade career teaching young, eager minds how to speak in new tongues. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Northwestern University and received a master's degree with honors in Spanish Literature and Language from Middlebury College in Spain. She also studied at Universidad Internacional Menendez Pelayo in Santander, Spain and Bank Street College of Education in New York, NY.

Ellen spent her life a scholar and lover of the many languages of the world. She dreamt and spoke in Spanish, Italian, Romanian, and English, as well as understood the universal languages of dance, drama, and art. She shared this ardor with her family, friends, and students. Ellen understood that teaching language was far deeper than vocabulary and grammar. Over the years, dozens of her students expressed to her how she opened them up to stories and experiences and other worlds.

Ellen filled her home with the sounds of rich conversations, Spanish poetry, Italian opera, foreign films, and eclectic ballades - from Joni Mitchell to Sarah Vaughan to Chopin to the Gypsy Kings. She, too, filled the homes and hearts of family and friends with laughter and wonder at life’s biggest questions. She will be forever missed, though her family knows she rests with her soulmate, George.

A memorial service will be held on Sunday, September 23rd. The service will be held from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm at Fox Funeral Home, Inc., 98-07 Ascan Avenue, Forest Hills, NY.