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Marigrace Bucher Komarnicki was born in Lancaster County, Pa., on Christmas Day 1933, and spent a lifetime living up to and embodying her name. The third of six children of Henry and Mabel Bucher, Marigrace graduated in 1955 from Elizabethtown College with a BA in education. She taught elementary students in California from 1958-1960, and California was also the place she discovered that the man she had met on a blind date would never leave her sight. George Komarnicki of Chester and Marigrace were married August 15, 1959, and their lifelong love yielded Robyn Hubbard, Kristyn Komarnicki Blancon, and Todd Komarnicki. After moving east, Marigrace became the director of the Narberth Presbyterian Church Nursery School (1983-1991). The church was also where she worked as both an elder and parish visitor (1994-2004). Over the years she was an active speaker and member of the Christian Women’s Club and a ubiquitous visitor at Broomall Presbyterian Home, Chester County Prison, the state prison at Chester, and anywhere there was a darkened door in need of light. Marigrace nicknamed her family’s home in Radnor “The Well,” and it, too, lived up to its name; it was a constant refuge for family, friends, foster kids, strangers, and anyone blessed enough to need refreshment and look up and see Marigrace’s face. The world was her community, and every human being a friend or a friend in waiting. Marigrace was the lead soloist at Narberth Presbyterian Church for many years and sang at countless weddings and funerals over a five-decade span. When she sang, it was more than notes. It was a doorway into faith and beauty and worship that listeners never forgot. Marigrace was interested in everyone she met, and to speak to her was to feel interesting. She was a detective of sorts, fascinated by people and their dreams. A born encourager, she brought hope to the disappointed and was responsible for at least a handful of matchmaking successes that continue to blossom to this day. Through everything her hope remained the same…a deep and abiding Christian faith that shaped her laughter, her largesse, and her love for her husband, kids, grandkids, in-laws, and the world. The Irish poet Seamus Heaney, in his famous poem coincidentally titled “At the Wellhead,” explicates Marigrace’s effect perfectly: “Being with her was intimate and helpful, like a cure you didn’t notice happening.” On February 27, 2009, when Marigrace breathed her last after a battle with cancer, the earth grew a little bit darker, while heaven lit up from within. That reflected light and the light her life has instilled in countless lives will guarantee that the darkness shall not last. It will give way to Marigrace-inspired goodness. “The Well” isn’t empty, it’s overflowing, because the water keeps refreshing from above. Marigrace is survived by her husband, George; her children, Robyn Hubbard (Robert), Kristyn Komarnicki Blancon (Pascal), and Todd Komarnicki (Jane Bradbury); her grandchildren, Chelsea, Jillian, Julien, Britton, Cole, Jacques, and a seventh on the way; and her sisters, Nancy Ziegler, Helen Louise Branom, Jean Are, and Carol Bechtler. Her Memorial Service will be held on Sat. March 7, 11am in Narberth Presbyterian Church, corner of Windsor and Grayling Aves., Narberth, PA. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in her memory to The Friendship Fund at Broomall Presbyterian Village, 146 Marple Rd., Broomall, PA 19008

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Marigrace Komarnicki

December 25, 1933 - February 27, 2009