Marian Shelia (Sirotkin) Hess

Marian Shelia Hess nee Sirotkin was born Sept 12, 1948 to Irving and Sally Sirotkin. She is survived by her beloved husband, Howard, her children- Adam, Ellie, and James, Brother Marc, and Grandchildren Regan, Mallory, Brady, Dax, AJ, Marly, Sophie and Maggie.

Mom was a great mom growing up.  She loved to cook she was taught Italian gourmet cooking from a neighbor of ours in Forest Hills NY and no doubt her most famous dish was her sauce.  Nothing else tasted like it.  she only used real everything. Real butter the good milk with the red cap.  We ate as a family pretty much every night and she took those meals very seriously for family time.  She never let me anyway eat anything that was not fresh or healthy.  which kind of sucked that the only cereal in the house was Cheerios.

Mom also loved people, all people even those she barely knew we almost always had a random person at thanksgiving, mailman, friend of the family you name it .  She also loved her regulars, she new everyone by name their families their kids etc…  She was so well known and my kids love this story she would make me drive by myself to Publix at age 15 (I would say mom I don’t have a license yet she said your tall enough to drive it will be fine go get me a carton of cigarettes and usually some sort of spice we had run out of.  I kid you not I could by booze and cigarettes as a teenager just because I was Marians son she said just tell them its for me.  If you ever waited on my mother at any of her regular restaurants and bars you would never forget her.  She was generally interested in people’s lives and she was a great listener.  And a great tipper!

She was a working mom always had some sort of job weather it was at The Denim Barn, AVS , Jewelry store, High fashion to name a few she was a great salesperson if she could have physically done it she would have worked forever.

And she loved a good party or event.  Her favorite things were Cruises, Vegas, gambling, trivia and as the show Cheers says somewhere to go where everyone knows your name.   In Tampa, the big parties were always at our house.  We had amazing New years parties when I was in college, she took keys made sure no one drove and there were high school buddies of mine in every room and maybe a few girls as well…  one of her favorite things in the early 90’s was Team Trivia.  Me and Charlie, Lopez, Brantley and few others went once a week to team trivia, and I had a cell phone and would sneak into the bathroom to call mom and dad and my grandmother depending on the question to make sure we would win.  She absolutely loved those calls.  I did not love my $450 a month cell phone bill but it was worth it.

She came to all my baseball games, my sister’s softball games, my brother who was an aspiring actor was driven to all his auditions in Orlando by mom. She loved my high school friends and college friends like no other mom.  Always to this day asking me about them their families.  She spoke to some of them on the side or via Facebook comments.

Holidays specifically thanksgiving and Christmas were her favorite.  We did both xmas and Hanukah a tradition we still do to this day.  Getting on facetime and saying the Hanukah prayer was something we enjoyed and did every year.  Presents were always over the top.

No son could ask for a better mom growing up and no friend could ask for a better friend.  Ally and I were lucky we were able to spend some time with her a week before she passed. She was in town looking for a house to relocate back to Houston.  She said something that ironically turned out to be truer than expected.  She did not want to live to be 100 like her father.   She liked what she liked and like a lot of older people she was set in her ways.  72 seems too young to die but I can tell you she lived every day like it was her last.  She will be missed but she would want to be remembered for all the great times and would want everyone happy and drinking and celebrating, not being sad.

Love you mom, you will be remembered and missed.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Marian Shelia (Sirotkin) Hess, please visit our floral store.