06/09/2025
Marian Geiger Stickel Buechele Farnelli of LaAnna, PA passed away peacefully on June 4, 2025 at the age of 101. Although small in stature, she will be remembered for her incredible strength. The strength of the love of her family, she devoted her life to loving and caring for her husband, her 6 children, her grandchildren, great-grandchildren and her great-great-grandson. The strength of her faith in God, she was a devoted member of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. And the strength of her love of her country, serving in WWII. She was a kind and gentle person who truly lived by the saying “If you cannot say something nice, don’t say anything.”
She was born July 15, 1923 in Newark, NJ to the late Christina Geiger Stickel and Charles E. Stickel. Her mother died shortly after her birth. She was adopted and lovingly raised by her mother’s sister, the late Gertrude Mae Geiger Buechele and her husband Charles L. Buechele in Maplewood, NJ.
As a child she played piano, was a member of the Mariner Girl Scouts and was on her high school’s diving team. She graduated from Columbia High School in 1941. After graduation she worked at Prudential Insurance in Newark, NJ as an actuarial clerk, calculating premiums and dividends on group insurance. Math was her favorite subject so this was a job she enjoyed. During WWII she joined the U.S. Coast Guard as an active duty SPAR in January of 1944 and served as a storekeeper in Washington, D.C. until March of 1946. Her unit had the honor of marching in FDR’s funeral procession.
After her service, she attended King’s College, which was then in Newark, DE. It was there she met the love of her life, William L. Farnelli, her future husband and fellow Coast Guard veteran. They were married October 20, 1948 in Williamstown, NJ. They were happily married for 60 years at the time of his death in 2009.
They lived in Newark, DE, Cream Ridge, NJ, Allentown, NJ, Williamstown, NJ and New Hope, PA before settling for good in the northern Pocono Mountains in 1966. She devoted her life to her family, raising her 6 children as a stay-at-home Mom. She went back to work in the 1970’s working for Doneghy Insurance in Newfoundland, PA. She worked there for over 20 years, finally retiring in 1996.
She will be remembered as a kind person, a loving wife and mother, and an amazing baker. She will be dearly missed by her family and friends.
She was predeceased by her parents, her husband, William L. Farnelli Sr., her sons, David C. Farnelli, Martin A. Farnelli and Timothy J. Farnelli, her granddaughter Melissa A. Farnelli, her daughter-in-law Alison (Rodin) Farnelli, and her siblings Martin Stickel, Carl Stickel, Gertrude M. (Stickel) Reiss, Edward L. Stickel and Charles L. Buechele.
She is survived by her sons William L. Farnelli Jr (Lynn) of Bayonne, NJ and Jay Farnelli of South Sterling, PA, her daughter Susan B. Farnelli of Allentown, PA, and her daughters-in-law Patricia Farnelli of Springville, PA and Mayra Farnelli of Miami, FL. Her grandchildren Samantha (Matthew) Dawson, Dana Farnelli, Amy Farnelli (Richard Oakley), Rima Brindamour (Gino DiStefano) MaryEllen (Cory) Kettleman, Cathlene Farnelli, Sarita Farnelli (Sam Ramos), LaAnna Grace Farnelli, William Fen Farnelli and Rachel (Andrew) Crago. Her great-grandchildren Cierra Reynolds (Elijah Smallwood), Barry Ellis III (Rory Bolton), Lyla Dawson, Harrison Dawson, Aubree Dawson, Darren Crampton, Daniel Sanford, Richard Oakley, Emmalyn Oakley, twins Addison and Madelyn Oakley, Joshua Kettleman, Elijah Kettleman and Caleb Kettleman. And her great-great-grandson Kamryn Dior Smallwood.
She is also survived by her sister-in-law Joan Carden Buechele and many nieces and nephews.
Private services and burial at Pine Grove Cemetery in South Sterling, PA will be at the convenience of the family.
