Obituary of Mary Theresa Duvoisin

CHAPEL HILL - Mary Theresa Duvoisin, age 84, died Sunday evening September 25th at the University of North Carolina Women's Hospital of Cancer of the throat complicated by a heart attack. A native of the Bronx, New York, she was the first born child of James McGaw and Mary Nugent McGaw. A graduate of Cathedral High School in New York city, she attended Hunter College in New York. The early death of her parents interrupted her studies and she worked for many years as an EKG technician and later as a medical secretary at Misericordia Hospital in the Bronx. She married Howard Medek with whom she raised four children. Her husband died in 1985 of cancer of the larynx. After retiring, she resumed her studies at Lehman College, the City University of New York, earning her BA degree with honors in 1996. She majored in history and was elected a member of the Golden Key National Honor Society. In 2006, Mary married Dr. Roger Duvoisin, a retired physician and widower living in Chapel Hill and the father of four children. The couple made their home in Governors Club in Chapel Hill. Mrs. Duvoisin is survived by her husband, Dr. Roger Duvoisin, her four children, Diane Fracassi of Wappingers Falls, NY; Kenneth Medek of Philadelphia, PA; Mary-Jo of Spring Hill, Florida; and Robert Medek of the Bronx, NY; her brother Patrick McGaw of East Moriches, NY. In addition there are three grandchildren, Brittany, Christian, and Sean; and four step-children: Anne Duvoisin of Durham, Marc Peter Duvoisin of Los Angeles, Jaques Antoine Duvoisin of Sante Fe, New Mexico, and Jeanne Blackmore of Colchester, Vermont. Funeral arrangements are with Walker's Funeral Home of Chapel Hill. Visitation will be held from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM on Wednesday, September 28, 2011. A funeral Mass will be held at the Newman Catholic Student Center on Pittsboro Road, Chapel Hill at 1:30 PM on Thursday, September 29, 2011. Interment will take place on Saturday, October 1, 2011, at Chapel Hill Memorial Cemetery on Legion Rd. The family requests that in lieu of flowers, memorial donations be made to the American Cancer Society, P.O. Box 140000, Raleigh, NC 27620-1400.