Marcia Nelson

Marcia (Rudolph) Nelson, age 80, of Malden and formerly of Wakefield, passed away unexpectedly but peacefully at her home on January 31, 2026.

Marcia was born in Woburn, Massachusetts on April 4, 1945. She was the daughter of the late John I. and Alice E. (Downs) Rudolph. Marcia spent the first 8 years of her life in Reading, before moving to Gould St. in Wakefield where she lived first with her family and then later where she raised her family until moving to Malden in 1996. Marcia attended St. Joseph Elementary School and was a 1963 graduate from Our Lady of Nazareth Academy.

Marcia held a variety of jobs during her lifetime including being a waitress at both the Lord Wakefield and the SeaWitch and being a bank teller. However, in 1988 she took a job as a paraprofessional in the Wakefield Public School RISE program and this turned out to be her true calling. Marcia was instrumental in the formative years of many young students who started their school career in pre-school. In 2005, after learning she was going to be a grandmother, Marcia retired from the WPS to do the job she loved most – being a full-time grandmother to her only grandchild, Tyler. Together they spent many years having adventures and she loved no one more than she loved Tyler.

Marcia was kind, loving and the embodiment of love. If you were lucky to know her, you probably were loved by her.

Marcia married the late Peter Nelson in 1969 and together they had three children. After Peter’s passing in 1988, Marcia met the second love of her life the late Robert (Bob) Ricciardone and together they spent 30 years together before Bob passed away in 2021.

Marcia is survived by her children, Susan Nohl and her husband, Rick of Reading, Peter (PJ) Nelson and his wife Sheila of South Yarmouth and Brian and his loving companion Stephanie Conway of Malden. Marcia was the loving and proud grandmother of Tyler John Nohl. She was the sister of Jack Rudolph and his wife Mary of Weymouth, Jane Good of Wakefield and Linda Ubaldi and her husband Michael of Aiken, GA. She also leaves her best friend and first cousin Kathleen (Kathy) McMenimen of Wakefield as well as many nieces, nephews and great nieces and nephews.

Her Funeral Mass will be celebrated in St. Joseph Church, 173 Albion St., Wakefield on Thursday, February 5 at 11am. Visitation for relatives and friends will be held at the McDonald Funeral Home, 19 Yale Ave., Wakefield on Wednesday, February 4 from 4-7pm. Interment, Charles Lawn Cemetery, Reading.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place., Memphis, TN, 38105.