Marilynn S. Malony, health coordinator in Camden schools

When Marilynn Schmidt Malony was diagnosed May 21 with terminal lung cancer and given perhaps six weeks to live, she told her family about her priority.

And it was not her.

The shower for a granddaughter, Beth Malony, was set for May 31. Beth's wedding to David Koscielny was to be on June 20.

Mrs. Malony's son Steve said she told his daughter, Beth: "No matter what happens, the shower goes on and the wedding goes on."

And so they did, as planned.

Mrs. Malony died a week after her diagnosis, on Thursday, May 28, at the Hospice of Philadelphia in East Falls. Services are set for Saturday, June 27.

"She was always worried about everybody else," said her son. "Even in the end."

Mrs. Malony, 82, of Collingswood, was the health services coordinator for the Camden City School District from the late 1980s until she retired in the mid-2000s, her son said.

A resident of Audubon from the late 1960s, she had lived at Collingswood Manor, an assisted-living community, for her last eight months.

Born in Collingswood, Mrs. Malony graduated from Collingswood High School and became a registered nurse after graduating from what is now Hahnemann University Hospital School of Nursing in Philadelphia.

Her nursing career took her to Hahnemann Hospital in the 1950s, the former West Jersey Hospital in the 1960s, and Cooper University Hospital in the 1970s, her son said.

Later in the 1970s, she became a Camden City school nurse and, in the early 1980s, she earned a master's in education at Rowan University, her son said, "so she could go from nursing to administration."

Mrs. Malony began teaching nursing classes as an adjunct professor at Rowan University in the early 2000s.

After retiring as the Camden City School District's health services coordinator in the mid-2000s, she continued her Rowan teaching until 2009.

Despite her workload, she had been a member of a Wednesday lunchtime Bible study group at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Audubon since the 1980s.

Besides her son, Mrs. Malony is survived by sons Bart and Rob, daughter Linda McIver, a brother, and eight grandchildren. Her husband, George, died in 2007.

A life celebration was set for 10 a.m. Saturday, June 27, at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, 325 S. White Horse Pike, Audubon, before an 11 a.m. memorial service there.

Donations may be sent to the Hospice of Philadelphia, Suite 500, 3300 Henry Ave., Philadelphia 19129.

Condolences may be offered to the family at www.henryfuneralhome.com.

610-313-8134@WNaedele