Anita Joan McLoughlin, of Vero Beach, passed away peacefully at her home with her family by her side, on July 5, 2015.
She is survived by her five children, Marianne Marquardt, Michael McLoughlin, Timothy McLoughlin, Molly McLoughlin, and Chris McLoughlin. Additionally, “Nini” is survived by a total of nine grandchildren.
McLoughlin was born in 1930 in Port Huron, Mich., the daughter of Violet and Howard Henderson. After high school, she graduated in 1951 from DePauw University, which is where she met her husband of more than 60 years, Dick McLoughlin, who predeceased her in 2010.
McLoughlin raised her family in Rye, N.Y. before retiring with Dick to Vero Beach in 1990.
For most of her life, she was an extremely active person who enjoyed travel, golf, tennis, gardening, decorating, and raising her five children. But more than what she did, it is who McLoughlin was that defines her life. She was warm, generous, energetic, loyal, determined, hopeful and outgoing. Anyone who spent any time at all with her was drawn to her spirit and quickly became a friend.
As a mother, she was a relentless champion for her children; reliably cheerful, optimistic, and supportive. Even though at times her support for her children got the best of her (like that time she emerged from hiding behind a shrub to chase away a bully who had been tormenting one of her sons), her children will remember her as the rock in their lives.
Forever gracious and always interested in others, McLoughlin was charming, the person you wanted to sit with at a dinner party. She was well-read and informed, happy to share a point of view on politics, world events, and personal finance. But it was her enthusiasm for laughter, at herself and the world around her that made McLoughlin so popular. She had an outstanding sense of humor which frequently revealed itself in the mildly inappropriate birthday cards she liked to send and receive. Her sense of humor never wavered, even despite chronic back pain, and she smiled right up until her last moments.
She and her husband Dick were so grateful for the enormous love they shared for more than 60 years of marriage. Both knew they were lucky to find each other at such a young age and, especially after Dick retired from business in 1990, they were almost never apart. Happiness for them was a simple matter of being together. Anita and Dick both felt fortunate to have been so happy for so long.
A memorial service will be held at a future date in Vero Beach. The family asks that donations in Anita’s memory be made to The VNA & Hospice Foundation (http://www.vnatc.com/foundation/) .