Mary Melnick Ortega

Mary Melnick Ortega, 99, of Olney, Maryland, passed away on December 7, 2024 at the Montgomery Casey Hospice, Rockville, MD.

Mary was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Julia Klym and Harry Melnick on June 11, 1925.  The family moved to Carney’s Point, New Jersey where Mary attended both grade school and high school in Penns Grove, New Jersey.  Mary graduated from Eastern Nazarene College with a degree in Biology.  She worked at the Matheny School for Children with Disabilities where she met and married Frank A. Ortega on September 29th, 1951.  Frank joined the U.S. Army, and they started his military career of 24 years with an assignment in Germany. This was followed with state-side assignments in Texas, Pennsylvania, Kansas and Washington, D.C being blessed with three children along the journey.  After settling in Montgomery County, Maryland, Mary attended Montgomery College where she earned her Certified Medical Assistant degree and worked for the Rockville Internal Medicine Group. Mary was a loving mother of three, a devout Christian, an avid reader and sports fan extraordinaire, whether for her own children and grandchildren or the local teams.  She was a Washington Capitals fanatic til her final days.

Mary is preceded in death by her husband Frank, her parents Harry and Julia Melnick, brothers William, Michael, George (fraternal twin), and sisters Anna, Dorothy and Julia.  Mary will be deeply missed by her younger sister Sophie, sons Perry and Doug (Brenda), daughter Lili Denine, grandchildren Lance (Solly), Heather (Charles Richards), Jennifer (Dr. Cameron Sayer), Sydney and Jaymin, five great-grandchildren: Dahlia/Silas, Wyn, Macleod, Theodore and Vincent, niece Deborah (Guy Griscom), grandniece Dr. Danielle (John Diener) and grandnephew Guy Eric.

For memorials, please consider a gift to The Montgomery Casey House  

http://montgomeryhospice.org/giving/ways-to-give/

Funeral services will be held at Barber Funeral Home on December 16th 2024, at 1:00PM. We want to express our deepest gratitude for your support and sympathy during this difficult time.  May God Bless and Keep You! The Ortega Family

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