Rebecca A. Manzione

Rebecca Ann "Beckie" Manzione of Woodbridge, Virginia passed from this life on July 25th, 2023, after a long illness. She left this world having remained continuously in her home, living life securely, at peace, in comfort, and surrounded by her loving family. She remained to the end vibrant, positive, inspirational, devout to her faith, and focused on family. She was an especially caring mother, daughter, grandmother, wife, sister and aunt. Throughout her life, and personally inspired by the example of her father, she was devoted in service to others, always striving to make other's lives better, and to share good times and her own good fortune with family and close lifelong friends. She was loved everywhere by all whose lives she touched, and she will be greatly missed by all of us who were blessed to have shared life together. Beckie was preceded in death by her beloved father, the late Mr. John W. Machonis Sr. of Alexandria. She is survived by her loving mother, Helen T. Machionis of Raleigh NC, older brothers John W. Machonis Jr of Clearwater FL, and Gerard A. Machonis of Raleigh, by her devoted husband of 40 years, John A. Manzione of Woodbridge, daughter Elizabeth A. Bauer of Stephens City, VA, son Christopher J. Manzione of Woodbridge, daughter-in-law Alison M. Manzione, and six beloved grandchildren Cassie, Lucas, Addison, Joey, Jocelyn and Makayla. Born on May 23rd, 1956 in Washington D.C., she was raised in the Hybla Valley section of Alexandria, Va, by a strong Catholic family who had re-settled from the Wilkes-Barre area of north central PA. She attended St. Louis Catholic school and later Groveton High, graduating with the Class of 1974, from where she retained numerous deep friendships for life. She raised her family in Woodbridge VA and made her second home in the Allegheny mountains of Canaan Valley, WV. Following graduation, she spent her early working years at the Army's Night Vision R&D labs, but was reassigned at a young age to serve as an executive secretary to Pentagon defense acquisition review staff. Returning to Ft. Belvoir, she served as secretary to the laboratory director within BRDEC and then as a program management assistant, before leaving the Army workforce to become a full-time homemaker and stay-at-home mother to her school age children. Along the way she raised a trio of soft-coated wheaten terriers. She would later return to the workforce part-time, first as volunteer mother at Aquinas School, then as an office manager to a general contractor, and finally on the principal's staff within the front office of Gar-Field Senior High School before retiring from there in 2005. She was athletic in nature, enjoying sports throughout her life from childhood ballet, cheer, to softball and bowling, hiking, and for more than 3 decades was an avid downhill skier. She was a gifted quilter. She kept busy during the pandemic hand-crafting over 1000 custom face masks, for family, friends and later providing them in bulk to equip schools, businesses, and a nursing home, always free for the asking. But her favorite pastime was just spending quality time with family. Beckie was ambitious and passionate in first and second home design, construction, interior decorating & ownership, her true life's calling. She purchased her first new residence in Alexandria at just 21 yrs of age, then, at age 23, her second in Woodbridge. She always loved vacation getaways - beginning with childhood summer family vacations at the beach in Ocean City, MD. Then joining up with workmates and friends to plan weekend ski trip getaways to Timberline, Canaan Valley WV. After some years, she took an opportunity to invest in property and build her own first custom vacation rental home in 1996. Over time she became established as a multiple vacation rental home owner at the ski resort. The family dream ski house was finally completed in 2018 at Mid Mountain on the slopes of Timberline Mountain, the property that secures Beckie's lasting legacy as a home maker. Memorial services are being handled by the Miller Funeral Home and Crematory, 3200 Golansky Blvd, Woodbridge. The family will receive visitors there on Friday August 18th, 2023, between the hours of 5pm and 8pm. A Mass of Christian burial will be held at 11am on Saturday August 19th, 2023 at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church, 12807 Valleywood Drive, Lake Ridge, VA 22192. Beckie's ashes will be interred at a later date in a private family ceremony on the Virginia Tech campus in Blacksburg, VA. Contributions in lieu of flowers may be made to one of the two ALS charitable organizations who were instrumental in assisting Beckie with text-to-speech eye gaze technology: The Team Gleason Foundation of New Orleans LA, https://teamgleason.org/donate/ ; or: Bridging Voice of Brooklyn NY, https://bridgingvoice.org/get-involved/ These two organizations helped greatly expand her world and enabled her to remain connected until her last days.

Tributes

Rebecca A. Manzione

July 25, 2023