Marlea E. Moriarty

Marlea Elizabeth Moriarty passed away peacefully on Wednesday morning December 18, 2019.  She was born on January 14, 1954 in Frankfort, Germany while her father was serving in the Army in Fulda.  As a military dependent, her early years were filled with travel both in the United States and in Europe while the family was stationed in Germany.

In 1971, she met her future husband while both of them lived in Selfridge AFB, Michigan.  In 1972 her father, LTC Carl F. Dupke Jr. retired and settled in Birmingham, Michigan to start a second career designing the M1 tank fire control systems.  In 1972, Marlea and her future husband attended the University of Alabama.  In 1973, Marlea transferred back to Birmingham to attend Oakland Community College to study photography, which was one of her passions.

In 1979, after a 6-year courtship, Marlea married Patrick Moriarty, a graduate of the University of Alabama and a U.S. Marine Corps Naval Flight Officer flying F-4 Phantoms.  Over the next 24 years, Marlea and Pat were stationed in Hawaii, South Carolina, California, Rhode Island, and finally settled in Dumfries, Virginia in 1996.  While traveling around the country from Marine Base to Marine Base, Marlea was very active in family support groups that assisted military families with spouses deployed overseas.

In 1990, Marlea was blessed with her raison d’etre, her son, Ryan Moriarty.  For the next 29 years, Marlea and Ryan did everything together:  fishing, skiing, soccer, baseball, golf, and Disney movies while Pat was deployed overseas.  The two of them were inseparable and best friends forever.

As Marlea traveled around the country, she also took up the game of golf – her second greatest passion – second only to her son.  She enjoyed the challenge of the game and more importantly, she enjoyed meeting the many different types of people that played the game and the friendships that were forged on the front nine, back nine, and sometimes in the 19^th hole.

After settling down in Dumfries, Virginia, Marlea belonged to the Quantico Garden Club.  She also helped coach her son’s school golf teams and she belonged to many different golf leagues in Northern Virginia.  She was also a member of the Virginia State Golf Association Board of Directors for three years and she belonged to the Ladies Golf Association of Ft. Belvoir for many years, where she served as handicap chair, tournament coordinator, and league president in 2019.  Marlea also represented Ft. Belvoir as a member and Team Chair of ARFAX, which was a group of women from 15 different golf clubs in the Arlington and Fairfax area that played competitive golf throughout Northern Virginia.  Aside from playing golf with the many different remarkable women in these leagues, Marlea found the greatest enjoyment and fulfillment in the work these golf leagues did for the Wounded Warriors Foundation.

Marlea is survived by her loving husband, Colonel Patrick R. Moriarty (Ret) and her son Ryan Moriarty; her mother, Mary W. Dupke; her sister, Carol Dupke Lee; her cousins Robin Trapolino and Webb Adams; her brother-in-law, LTC Mike Moriarty (Ret), and her sister-in-law, Lita Moriarty Hillis.

She is preceded by her father, LTC Carl F. Dupke (Ret) and her grandparents from Alabama and Wisconsin.

A celebration of life will be held on January 11, 2020 at 12:30 pm at Dumfries United Methodist Church, Dumfries, Virginia.

In lieu of flowers, donations are welcome for the Wounded Warriors Foundation, an organization that Marlea felt very strongly about and supported through her golfing associations, or the American Cancer Society.