Margaret S. Karolyi, 84, of Greenfield Township, Pa., died Monday, March 3, two weeks shy of her 85th birthday, timing she certainly would consider a missed opportunity to enjoy some cake.

Margaret was more than a baker and lover of sweets. She was the center of her devoted husband’s life for 62 years, a college professor, a devotee of Chinese checkers, a green thumb who loved her houseplants and flowers, and a lover of word play and corny jokes she made with just about anyone, in any situation. She is most certainly cracking a joke right about now.

Margaret was the daughter of Hungarian immigrants, Joseph and Mary (Francovsky) Sziracky. From her father, a pastry chef and master baker, she inherited a talent for baking, making elaborate, cat-shaped cakes for birthdays, incredible pies from rhubarb grown in the backyard, and at one point cheesecakes she sold as a side gig while working on her multiple college degrees.

From her mother, who ran the business side of her parents’ Pocono Summit, Pa. bakery, she learned independence and broke free of the expectations of her generation. After marrying Alexander Karolyi, and welcoming three daughters into the world, Margaret decided homemaking of the early 1970s was not for her. She returned to Marywood College in Scranton, Pa., youngest daughter Anne in tow to be babysat by the campus nuns or used as an example in child development classes.

Marge finished a previously started BA in home economics at Marywood, then went on to earn her MS in education and MS in educational psychology at Marywood, and ultimately a PhD in educational administration at Kent State University in Ohio. Teaching was her calling, and she cherished her days in college classrooms in Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Marge’s faith was important to her. In Mt. Pocono, Pa., where she and Alex started their family, Margaret never missed Mass and served as president of Mary of the Mount’s Altar and Rosary Society. She taught CCD classes and delivered meals to the homebound. Later, she was a lector at St. Peter’s Cathedral in Scranton. On the way to summer vacations at the Jersey Shore, she and Alex made the family go to Mass before the trip could begin.

Marge had a fondness for dogs, and toward the end of her life was a devoted dog-parent to Toby and then Scruffy, both of whom have crossed the rainbow bridge.

She was a clotheshorse, closets packed in shades of red, pink and purple, and she preferred to dry her laundry on a backyard line in the sunshine.

Marge valued public service. In Wadsworth, Ohio, she delivered Meals on Wheels. In Greenfield Township, she enjoyed volunteering with her husband as administrative members of the Greenfield Township Volunteer Fire Company.

Her daughters would like to thank her friends and staff at Willowbrook assisted living in Clarks Summit, where mom enjoyed three years of art classes, an unlimited supply of books to read, card playing, chair aerobics, happy hours and field trips.

She is survived by a daughter, Susan Marzolino and her husband, Tony, of Berkshire, N.Y.; daughter Anne Karolyi and her husband, Michael Orazzi, of Torrington, Conn.; grandson Tom Marzolino of Delaware, his wife Shana, and their children Luca, Leo and a girl on the way; grandson Nick Marzolino of New York and his wife, Bethany, and their baby arriving any day now; grandson Wiley Dickerson of Hagerstown, Md.; and grandson Niles Dickerson and his wife, Jessie of Reston, Va.

She also is survived by nephews Tony DaCruz, of Arizona and Phillip DaCruz of New Jersey.

She is predeceased by her husband, Alexander F. Karolyi; a daughter, Elizabeth Austin of Hagerstown, Md.; and a sister, Marion Maia DaCruz of Virginia.

The funeral will be Monday, March 10th from the Brennan & Brennan Funeral Home, Inc., 55 Lincoln Avenue, Carbondale, with a Mass of Christian Burial at 10 am in Saint Rose of Lima Church, 6 N. Church St., Carbondale.  Entombment will follow at Our Mother of Sorrows Mausoleum, Finch Hill.  Friends may call Sunday, from 2 to 4 pm.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to Carbondale Public Library, 5 North Main St., Carbondale, Pa., 18407; to Griffin Pond Animal Shelter, 967 Griffin Pond Road, Clarks Summit, Pa. 18411, or to the Greenfield Township Volunteer Fire Company, 424 Route 106, Greenfield Township, Pa., 18407.