Charlene Mary Taraskiewicz

Charlene Mary Taraskiewicz (née Ahern) was the most beautiful, beloved, loving, and wonderful wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother that a family could hope to have. She was gentle, kind, thoughtful, attentive, generous, witty, intelligent, devoted, well-read, educated, creative, patient, strong, and brave. She loved her family and communicated that love through her words and actions. She lived a life of selfless service and devotion to those she loved. She loved God and lived a good, Christian life.

Charlene was married to Frank, the love of her life, for 59 years until his death in January of 2024. Their friendship began in first grade where they attended St. Casimir elementary school together. They both lived on Roosevelt street, and Frank would walk Charlene home after school and carry her books. They parted ways when Frank transferred to St. Cecilia for seventh grade. However, in their senior year of high school, Frank was featured in the newspaper and that led to a reconnection. With Frank’s kind charm and Charlene’s sweet nature, what was a school-age friendship easily blossomed into a love that endured and has produced three generations of family.

Frank and Charlene dated for almost three years and were married in January of 1965. They began a family with the birth of their first daughter, Susan, in April of 1966. Charlene went to be with the Lord and with her beloved husband on Susan’s birthday in 2025 – their anniversary of being parents. With death impending, Charlene frequently expressed the desire to not pass away on one of the several April birthdays in the family. However, it is truly fitting that Charlene’s entry into heaven coincided with the day she became a mother, as family was everything to Charlene and Frank.

Charlene and Frank brought into this world eight daughters, who were their pride and joy, and who always knew how loved they were. Although heartbroken, their daughters were raised to be strong women. This strength and also their daughters’ love for others was modeled by Frank and Charlene. Their daughters are Susan (Thaddeus) Stefanski, Carol Taraskiewicz, Patti (Mike) Schum, Mary (Ed) Kwilos, Jean (Julio) Taraskiewicz Romero, Cindy Taraskiewicz, Amy (Tim) Smith, and Chrissy (Mark) Marczewski.

The Taraskiewicz family went on to welcome a generation of grandchildren that loved their grandparents dearly, just as their grandparents loved them. In Frank, the grandkids found a playful, fun guy. In Charlene, the grandkids found an enthusiastic supporter who showered them with love, encouragement, and praise. Charlene was interested in everything her grandkids did and read, and made sure they knew how special they were. Frank and Charlene’s grandchildren are Teddy Stefanski, Leanna (Michael) Hermann, Alex Schum, Nat Rios, Tara Kwilos, Nora (Kevin) Jones, Ethan Schum, Steven Rios, Oscar Nieman, Noah Marczewski, Isabela Romero, Justin Marczewski, Lio Romero, and Brendan Marczewski. This loving family grew more with children that Cindy is fostering: Val Sweet and Loyal Smith.

Charlene and Frank were blessed last year with the addition of two great-grandsons: Grayson Jones and Boston Hermann. Although Frank passed away before they were born, we believe they met in heaven. The babies were a delight to Charlene, and brought her so much joy.

Charlene was born in Detroit on October 29, 1944, to Leland and Frances Ahern. Lee and Fran were wonderful, kind people who raised their children with love. Charlene was close with her older brother, Chuck, and her younger brother, Tom. Her brothers were witty and intelligent, and the three loved each other. The Aherns were a happy and beautiful family, and Charlene had a lifetime of wonderful memories with them. Charlene’s parents and brothers preceded her in death, and Charlene often expressed joy at the thought of reuniting with them in heaven. Charlene also loved dearly her grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, mother-in-law, father-in-law, sisters-in-law, brother-in-law, and nieces and nephews. She shared many, many stories with her daughters about her extended family, and her daughters feel a closeness to this extended family because of the enthusiastic way Charlene would talk about them.

After attending St. Casimir, Charlene attended Ladywood High School, where she graduated as valedictorian in 1962. Charlene loved St. Casimir and Ladywood, and loved the nuns who taught her. In her childhood she considered the possibility of becoming a nun, but with the re-entry of Frank into her life, God announced that He had different plans for her.

Charlene attended the University of Detroit on a full scholarship that she won from Ford Motor Company; she was eligible to compete for the scholarship as her father was an employee of Ford. Charlene graduated from the university in 1966 with a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in history and minoring in French and elementary education. By the time she graduated, she was also a wife and a new mother and lovingly stepped into those roles.

Charlene and Frank’s family grew quickly, with eight kids born in twelve years. Life was chaotic and fun in the Taraskiewicz household. There was never a dull moment and it was never quiet. Though not rich monetarily, the family was rich in love and laughter in a small house that held ten people.

Frank worked on the assembly line at Detroit Diesel, a physically-exhausting job that he did with pride as it allowed him to provide for his family. This also allowed Charlene to stay at home with her children, which brought her great joy. Charlene would occasionally accept substitute teaching assignments, but her full-time career was mother to her daughters. She was a creative, loving mother who was a teacher at heart, and she incorporated that love of teaching into her mothering.

In the day-to-day activities of life, Charlene found ways to incorporate lessons on spelling, reading, math, and Christian values. Charlene made games out of things, and the games often had an element of learning. She sang often and there was often music playing. Charlene and her kids would pile in the car to pick up Frank from work, and would sing a song Charlene made up about their dad and how much they loved him. This joyful, enthusiastic, and creative environment inspired a lot of fun and her daughters grew up happy.

Frank and Charlene prioritized a Catholic education for their daughters, and sent them to Ss. Peter and Paul elementary school, and then Divine Child and St. Alphonsus high schools. Although money was tight and paying tuition for eight children was challenging, this was a path that was important to them. Frank and Charlene lived their Christian faith and found great value in religious education for their daughters.

As her children got older, Charlene eventually took part-time work at B. Dalton Bookseller, a job which she loved and which fit nicely with her love of reading. Not long thereafter, she finally stepped into the role of full-time teacher at Ss. Peter and Paul school, all those years after studying education in college. She taught third grade and then kindergarten, and loved her students. The same joyous enthusiasm she brought to mothering, she also brought to teaching. Some of Charlene’s children were still attending Ss. Peter and Paul at the time, so they had the added fun of having their mother teaching at their school.

When Charlene retired from teaching, she took the unexpected path of taking a secretarial role at the University of Detroit Mercy. This was fitting with her service to family, as her employment at the university allowed her children to attend school there at no cost. She found joy in her employment there, as she seemed to find everywhere, and especially enjoyed interacting with the professors.

When grandchildren started to come along, Charlene retired from UDM and Frank retired from Detroit Diesel, and they began watching grandchildren full-time while the parents worked. This brought a renewed joy to Frank and Charlene, who lived for family. Charlene often said this was the greatest decision, to spend those years with grandkids. Frank found a new generation to have fun with, and Charlene found a new generation to teach and encourage. The grandkids, in turn, got the gift of these years with their grandparents.

In their retirement Frank and Charlene also found time to do together more things they loved. They loved exploring Michigan, and they loved being by the water. Frank would kayak or swim, while Charlene would read on the shore. They loved watching the freighters and other boats on the lakes. They especially loved Port Huron and Lexington, and enjoyed finding a lovely bed and breakfast. They loved to dance together, whether a slow dance or a polka. A favorite story Charlene told is that while traveling in Michigan, one of their songs came on the radio (Could I Have This Dance by Anne Murray), and Frank pulled the car over so that he and Charlene could slow dance.

In these years, Charlene and Frank also began to care for Charlene’s widowed mother, who was nearing 100 and had developed dementia. Although this was challenging, Charlene loved her mother dearly and felt honored to be able to care for her.

Her mother passed away in 2017, and by this time Charlene was caring for Frank, who was growing weaker as his health was failing. Charlene was growing older and this was difficult, but it was a labor of love to care for her beloved husband.

In January of 2024 Charlene was diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), a pre-leukemia blood cancer, and was given a terminal prognosis of two years or less. Frank died twenty days later.

Charlene’s heart was broken as she tried to navigate life without Frank, and the MDS and the treatments it would entail – chemo seven days a month, and blood transfusions as needed. Jean and Julio moved Charlene into their home and provided a warm, comfortable, loving environment, and her daughters ensured all her needs were met.

Charlene faced these challenges bravely and without complaint or fear. She said the rosary daily. Her faith remained strong and sustained her. Charlene had always loved to write (and was an excellent writer), and these days wrote to Frank, to tell him that she loved him and she missed him.

She had always been an avid reader, but she now read even more voraciously, perhaps as a means of escaping the pain of her circumstances. In 2024 she read 120 books.

Charlene had begun to draw in her older years, especially lovely, colorful flowers. These days she continued to create beautiful art as an outlet from what she was facing.

In March of 2025, Charlene was told that the MDS had progressed to acute myeloid leukemia (AML). She was told that she might live a few weeks to a month and was advised to enter hospice. Her daughters were devastated but Charlene remained strong. She faced death with courage, Christian faith, and joy at seeing Frank again.

On the day she entered hospice, Charlene told the hospice nurse that she was the luckiest person ever. She said that she had married the love of her life and had been blessed with the best family and couldn’t imagine anyone being luckier than her.

Charlene had lived a life of service to others. She had raised her daughters, worked, helped raise grandchildren, cared for her mother, cared for her husband, and then faced a terminal prognosis. She had dreams of writing a novel that went unfulfilled. When asked about unfulfilled dreams or time for herself, Charlene was unwavering in that she wouldn’t change a thing about her life. She many, many times declared how lucky she was and how she had the best life ever.

After Charlene entered hospice, her family was blessed to have her for 25 more days. She passed away peacefully at home with all eight daughters with her. Her last days and hours were filled with family, prayer, song, memories, and love.

Charlene’s daughters are devastated as their love for their mother is immense and unending. Such a beautiful light suddenly gone. Charlene often encouraged her children and grandchildren to find peace in the grief. She wrote to them: “Please don’t be overcome with grief because I will be joining Dad or Grandpa and my mom and my dad and my brothers. They’re all waiting for me.”

One of Charlene’s great joys was genealogy research. To Charlene, genealogy was more than just names on a family tree – it was a vivid and colorful story woven through decades and continents and generations. Her daughters are excited at the prospect that Charlene will meet in heaven these ancestors that she so lovingly researched.

This obituary is longer than many because, first of all, there are so many beautiful things to tell about Charlene that the world should know. This incredible woman was so loving and so beloved. But additionally, this is detailed also so that it will be a rich and vibrant genealogical record for future generations. Charlene’s daughters know the excitement that Charlene would feel at the thought of her descendants generations from now researching their family tree and finding this record. A fitting way to honor a genealogist.

Charlene’s greatest love was Frank, and Frank’s greatest love was Charlene. They often signed cards to each other with MTYLTT, an acronym meaning they loved each other More Than Yesterday, Less Than Tomorrow. And they did. Wherever one was, the other was. Their love was a love for the ages. In her last weeks Charlene expressed joy at the thought of running into Frank’s arms and dancing with him again. And Frank and Charlene’s family finds joy that they are together again in eternal glory.