Obituary
Alice Louise (Maddox) Stoccardo passed away peacefully on July 4, 2023 at age 87. She was born in Philadelphia on Feb. 1, 1936 to Mary Josephine (Collins) Maddox and Albert Louis Maddox.
Mom was a thrift store enthusiast, an avid football fan and a lover of The Cleveland Orchestra. She enjoyed anything cultural and instilled a lifelong love of the musical and visual arts in her children. Although afraid to fly, she none the less road-tripped throughout the southeast, taking her seven kids to Key West, New Orleans and the Smokey Mountains. She encouraged us to see the world and kept our subsequent gifts for decades, often in the same box, labeled with dates and details. God gave mom two gifts: a near perfect memory for dates, and a sharp tongue. She was our calendar, family reference librarian, and task master. From her we learned self-sufficiency, personal responsibility, and money management.
At 22-years-old in 1958 she married first generation Italian Robert Stoccardo Sr. By 1968, they threw their faith behind a new job at Eastern Airlines and moved their growing family to Miami, a city as different from immigrant-infused Philadelphia as it was the same. She embraced the warm Latin culture and dived into its opportunities, from sunning at Matheson Hammock Park to carting us to midnight showings at the original Miami Science Museum in Coconut Grove, where we first heard the Desiderata in its (then) high-end analog planetarium. In 1978, we moved to Winter Park, a city she cherished for its beauty and excellent library system.
An introvert, she loved reading and caring for plants, always encouraging a Golden Pathos to trellis throughout the kitchen. Knickknacks and inspirational quotes consumed our home’s crevices and corners, and she never missed an opportunity to direct one of us to pick up a broom and get something done. Intellectual curiosity was encouraged, laziness identified, and college expected.
Her true talent came in keeping in touch. Our mother wrote letters, sent cards, and reached out to friends, as well as close and distant relatives for decades, leaving, quite literally, thousands of cards, notes, and handwritten letters behind as these individuals responded with their own missives.
Born to an Irish immigrant mother and a New Englander father, she grew up Catholic, graduating from West Philadelphia Catholic Girls High School. As an adult, she attended St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church in Winter Park.
Alice Stoccardo is survived by sons Michael (Jane) and James of Washington, and Eugene (Rena), Brian (Stephanie) and David (Valentina) Stoccardo and daughter Catherine (George) Mitseas of Florida; seven grandchildren and two step-grandchildren.
In addition to her parents and husband, she was preceded in death by her son, Robert Jr., a sister and a half-brother. Services will be held in her memory at St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church Aug. 11, 2023 with interment to follow.
We would like to thank St. Margaret Mary for their generous Certified Ministers to the Sick program, which allowed our parents to partake in the sacrament of communion far beyond their energy to attend church. In leu of flowers, please consider presenting a gift to St. Margaret Mary in memory of Alice and Robert Stoccardo.
Leave a reply