Marjorie Ann Porucznik

Marjorie Ann Porucznik, wife of the late Francis Michael Porucznik, of East Lyme, died of respiratory failure on March 11, 2026. She was born in Norwich on October 6, 1942, the daughter of Josephine Leitkowski and Joseph Soby. Marjorie is survived by her daughter, Dianne, and son-in-law, Michael Brown, both of East Lyme.

At the age of eight, Marjorie lost her mother, an event that fostered her early independence. She quickly learned housekeeping skills, including cooking for herself and her father, and mastered sewing her own clothes, a craft her mother had taught her at age four. She found solace and joy in music, leading school assemblies and earning numerous awards, including the Elsa Morris Music Award upon her grammar school graduation. At Norwich Free Academy, she was selected as second soprano for the Connecticut All-State Music Festival in 1960. She went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in 1964 and a master’s degree in 1982, both from the University of Connecticut, where she became a member of Phi Lambda. Nationally certified in Family and Consumer Sciences, she taught home economics and health education in southeastern Connecticut public schools for 28 years.

Marjorie married Francis on November 30, 1963, at St. Mary’s Church in Norwich. The couple built a home in the Thames-side area of Norwich, then moved with their young daughter to East Lyme, where they lovingly restored an eighteenth-century colonial historic home. In retirement, they also enjoyed a lakeside cabin in New Hampshire on Tucker Pond, where they listened to loons, admired the mountain views, made new friends, and spent peaceful days together.

A passionate steward of her historic East Lyme home, Marjorie filled it with her hand-made art and modest antiques. She created a meticulously manicured flower garden that was featured twice on the Child & Family Agencies’ Garden Tour, photographed by Hallmark, and chosen for the cover of its 1997 monthly planner. A member of the East Lyme Garden Club since approximately 1976, she was later granted lifetime membership in the Connecticut Federation of Garden Clubs. In the late 1980s she contributed a quilt square to a community project now hanging in East Lyme’s Thomas Lee House, depicting the diving horse Queen from the nearby Golden Spur. She also created a square for Norwich’s 350th anniversary quilt in 2009, showing the historic gates of the Old Norwichtown Cemetery, which hangs in Norwich City Hall.

In recent years, Marjorie and her daughter Dianne developed a close and cherished bond, discovering shared interests in gardening, cooking, interior decoration, compassion, humor, and the simple moments of life. She will be deeply missed by her daughter and son-in-law.