Obituary of Mollie R. Durkin

Mollie Roche Durkin, writer and creative director for WPHL 17 The eventful and adventurous life of Mollie Roche Durkin began in what she called "total normalcy," back when she was little redheaded Marianne Roche, growing up in a half double home in Scranton, Pennsylvania. The oldest of five siblings---Alice, Jane, Frank and David---Mollie remembered wearing matching outfits to church on Sundays and clearing the floor for her parents, Frank and Marian, to dance after dinner. Growing up, Mollie, who would eventually become a professional writer, would lag behind the other students on the way to school, forever crafting stories in her mind. That innate sense of creativity and unique ability to turn a phrase provided a constant thread in an often inconstant life, which ended on February 8th. Mollie died at home at the age of 84, surrounded by her children. Shortly after graduating high school, Mollie parlayed her talents into a thriving career as a journalist and advertising executive, first at The Scranton Times, and later at the advertising agency Gann-Dawson, where she crafted jingles for Arlen Specter's bid for district attorney and traveled alongside then-Governor Bill Scranton as he campaigned for President. Once, she remembered, being flown by helicopter to meet with Scranton's newest benefactor: Nelson Rockefeller. "We flew all over the state. I was buying clothes as I went," Mollie recalled in an interview shortly before she died. "It was totally interesting, but backbreaking." Once Mollie moved to Philadelphia, she landed a job as creative director for the local television station WPHL 17. There, she executive produced a two-hour documentary about teen drug addiction called, "The Junk Yard," which earned the station record ratings. But if writing was a skill Mollie was born with, resilience was a skill she was forced to acquire. When her son Charles, "Chummy" for short, was just 7-months old, he died of spinal meningitis, a stunning blow to Mollie who was, at that time, in the prime of her life. "The experience of losing Chummy changed my life forever," Mollie remembered. "It was really my first heartbreak." Her career and her one-year-old daughter Colleen kept her going, she said. When she was 45-years-old, Mollie was diagnosed with a chronic heart disease that kept her in the hospital for months and threatened to end her life all too soon. But the determined single mother of four surviving children---Colleen, Meg, Michael, and Ted---fought her way back. Too sick to go back to the business world, she immersed herself in her children's schools, running the newsletters and alumni publications for both Mount St. Joseph Academy and Germantown Academy. Later in life, Mollie spent winters in Vero Beach, Florida, her home away from home, where she led volunteer efforts at Holy Cross Catholic Church and became an avid bridge player. Mollie leaves behind an estate that consists not of homes or antique jewelry, but of binders full of newspaper clippings and perfectly preserved ad campaigns, which today serve as historical documentation of her pioneering career. That, and a devoted family of four children, twelve grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren. Mollie had a trick for securing her grandchildren and great grandchildren's loyalty. She would tell each one of them, "You're my favorite," and instructed them not to tell the others. They all believed her. It was a clever move for a woman whose cleverness was her currency. Throughout her life, Mollie said she faced pressures to become a teacher or work in a bank, like other women of her generation. "They'd say, 'Why can't you conform?' And I'd think: 'To what?'" she said. As her friends and family can attest, she never did. Mollie is survived by her siblings Jane Goetzman (Hank Goetzman), Frank J. Roche Jr. (Judy Roche), and David Roche (Maggie Roche); her children Colleen Durkin Lapowsky (Bob Lapowsky), Meg Durkin Higgins, Michael Cobb-Durkin (Mary Elizabeth), and Ted Durkin (Meg Durkin); grandchildren Mollie Egginton (Pete Egginton), Issie Lapowsky (Stanley Abellard), Tim Lapowsky (Rosie Casey), Tara Durkin, Caitlin Durkin, Max Durkin, Julian Durkin, Michael Higgins, Lucy Higgins, Mollie Durkin, Claire Durkin, and Cecelia Durkin; great-grandchildren Rory Durkin, Izabelle Durkin, Pete Egginton, and Charlie Egginton; and nieces and nephews. She was also preceded in death by an infant son, Charlie Cobb Durkin; a sister, Alice McNulty; and her parents, Marian Roche and Frank J. Roche. Visitation will take place on Friday, February 17th, from 9:30 am to 11 am at St. Philip Neri Church, followed by a funeral mass (437 Ridge Pike, Lafayette Hill, PA). In lieu of flowers, contributions should be sent to St. Joseph's Center in Scranton, PA.