Obituary of Mary Ellen Gurnon

Mary Ellen Gurnon passed away peacefully on 1 October 2022, in her hometown of Venice Florida, surrounded by family members. She had fought long and hard against the metastatic breast cancer that invaded her body and while it briefly took her hair, it never took her indomitable spirit. 

Meg was born on 8 April 1951 in Everett Massachusetts to the late Richard J. and Emilie M. Gurnon and lived in Everett and Danvers MA until she decided to fulfill her dream of becoming a flight attendant and travel the world. She lived a life of adventure, visiting many exotic spots during her 71 years on this earth: riding in a gondola in Venice Italy, and on an elephant in India; walking the Great Wall in China and the edges of the fjords of Norway, swimming in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans off the coast of Panama; cruising the rivers of France and the streets of London; even crossing the Atlantic to Europe on the SS America.

Meg seemingly had two lives - one for decades as a dashing flight attendant, jetting to many of the places Delta flys (but always through Atlanta…), and one as a devoted mother to Marie Rose. When Marie came into her life, Meg was smitten as only a mother would understand. Always fearless, Meg actually went to China during the SARS epidemic to get her daughter and bring her back to the US. Once Meg became a mother, Marie became the focus and object of her life.

She leaves behind her beloved daughter Marie Rose Gurnon of Venice FL, her brothers Richard of Bourne MA, and Jack of Boston MA, her close cousins Buck and Anne Marie Christofells and Maureen and Dick Eberhart of Venice FL, her many loving friends, and her extended Gurnon and Christofells family, spread out over most of the United States. Funeral arrangements are private but a celebration of her life will be held at a later date when the movie “Auntie Mame” with Rosalind Russell will be shown in a continuous loop accompanied by dancing, a piano player, tiki torches, and champagne for all.