Mariana T. Ives

Mariana was born at Jefferson Hospital and grew up at 1814 Pine Street in Philadelphia. Home was a 4-story townhouse with family that included parents, Dr. J. Hart Toland and Helen Tesche, sister Ellen (Connett), cousin Drew (Brazer), Aunt Helen (Toland), and Uncle Joe (McIntyre) Every Thanksgiving all the cousins, aunts, uncles, and friends gathered in this house for a feast. It seemed that “Pine Street” was the magnet for the entire family, as well as the friends of Mariana, Ellen, and Drew.

While Mariana was born during “boom times” her sister, Ellen, born less than four years later, was called the “depression baby.” The stories from that time tell of every night for many a year, destitute men knocking at the back door and asking for (and receiving) a meal.

As a young child, Rittenhouse Square was her playground. Summers were spent in Atlantic City and later Cape May where, along with Ellen and Drew, they sang and danced in The Cape May Capers of 1947. She attended Thaddeus Stevens School of Practice, 13th and Spring Garden Streets, from kindergarten through fifth grade. She attended the Academy of Notre Dame de Namur on Rittenhouse Square and later in Villanova from sixth through twelfth grades. She then attended Peirce Business School in Philadelphia.

Although she had “no burning desire for a career and only wanted to marry and have children,” she did eventually have success in the work world. She held positions at Curtis Publishing, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Fairmount Park Police, and Hale Fire Pump Company. After retiring and while shopping in IKEA, she was recruited off the floor by a manager who told her to apply for a job there. That’s how she wound up working in the ball room at Småland! She called the jobs she held traditionally female and that even senior women managers were required to do chores that men were not asked to do. “I personally try to educate the offenders with humor - and keep these chores to a minimum.”

Mariana was one-of-a-kind, beautiful, flirty, mischievous, ahead of her time, an artist, a poet, a voracious reader, a lover of history, a wordsmith. Reading was her sport. She loved her family and friends and let them know how special they were. They loved how her presence never failed to light up a room or as some say a whole house! She was everyone’s favorite aunt, sister, godmother, friend, and grandmother. She held a special place in their hearts and they in hers. She had a big smile and an infectious laugh. When asked what her secret to a long life was, she answered, “I smoked, I drank, and I had fun.” For anyone wondering, apparently that works. She nearly reached 99!

She married Robert Glendenning Ives in 1949 and had three children, Robert Jr. (Denise), Barbara, and John. She is survived by five grandchildren, Alice Simola (Frank), Andrew Voigtsberger (Rachel), Robert Ives, III (Tasha), Adam Ives (Jamie), Cara May, and Cody Pace, eleven great-grandchildren and three nephews, Albert, Daniel B., and Sean Connett. She was pre-deceased by her son Bobby and sister Ellen.

Mariana died peacefully at home in Miquon with the help and care of Penn Medicine Hospice and her aides, Shakora, Angie, and Siana.

Graveside service

Calvary Cemetery

2025 Old Gulph Road, Villanova

Saturday August 8 @ 11am