Maurine, better known to her friends and family as Mickie, loved life. She and her husband of 65 years, Darrel, were true soul partners who gave each other immeasurable love, support, and happiness. She created a loving, nurturing and fun-filled home for Darrel and their three children, Susan, Lee, and James. Maurine treated everyone she met as if they had been long-time friends and her positive outlook and generous nature impacted many peoples’ lives.

Maurine was born in Chicago, Illinois to Maurice and Marie Moriarty, the younger sister to Marie Moriarty (later Perkis). She studied business administration at Missouri Valley College where she was a member of the Alpha Xi Delta sorority. After college, she moved to Miami, Florida to pursue a career as a flight attendant with Delta Airlines during the early days of commercial aviation. It was in Miami where she met Darrel, who was working toward his degree at the University of Miami. They met on a blind date and knew immediately they were meant to be together. They were married in 1952 in Miami Springs. After a brief time in Norfolk, Virginia, they returned to South Florida permanently and raised a family.

Maurine was a loving wife, selfless caregiver, and an extraordinary daughter (she took care of her mother for over 30 years after her father died), sister, mother, grandmother, aunt, and friend. She was an avid tennis player who competed for many years and was the Captain of the David Park Tennis Squad. She was a tennis coach and mentor to students at Nativity School and Madonna Academy. She volunteered thousands of hours giving joy to the patients at Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital. Maurine was a fan of all holidays; she hosted epic St. Patrick’s Day parties, made everyone’s birthday special, and was filled with delight like a child on Christmas day. As an active member of Nativity Catholic Church for 50 years, she contributed her time and can-do spirit to many events and fundraisers, most recently with the Seniors Group. Maurine also enjoyed participating in the Red Hat Society, was a fearless world traveller, a theater lover (especially when it was one of her granddaughter’s school plays), and was always there to support a friend.

She is survived by her husband Darrel, daughter Dr. Susan Hawkins and her husband Dr. Jeffrey Hawkins, son Lee and his wife Mary Mason Harding and their children, Samantha Jo and Mason, son James and his husband Ricardo Martinez, and her nieces and nephew, Sharon Frazzini, Victoria Perkis and Mike Perkis.

The Harding Family would like to thank all of those who tirelessly cared for Maurine during the last months of her life: Tina Turnbull, the Staff at Five Star Residences, and the VITAS Hospice staff including her nurse Donna Williams and Chaplain Victor Algarin. We would also like to thank her primary healthcare team of many years, Dr. William Nitzberg and nurse Mary Pecora.

A funeral mass will be held at Nativity Catholic Church on Saturday, December 16, 2017, 1:00 PM. If you wish, donations may be given in her name to The American Cancer Society, www.cancer.org

She will be greatly missed by all.

Arrangements entrusted to Boyd-Panciera Family Funeral Care