Marcelle Morandi Karam, 102, died peacefully at Melbourne Place in Pittsfield on Nov. 26. Born in Paris on Oct. 17, 1912, Mrs. Karam was the daughter of John Morandi and Elizabeth Zwarg Morandi of Alford. She spent the first 10 years of her life in Annezin, a small town in northern France. In later years she recalled that during World War I the town's women and children were sent to the safety of Paris. She remembered walking by night and hiding in the daytime as they followed train tracks all the way to the capital.
After coming to America in 1922, Mrs. Karam attended public schools in Alford; she then worked in boarding houses in the southern Berkshires and, in the 1930s, as a housekeeper in Manhasset, N.Y. She returned to the Berkshires to help out her family during the Depression. During World War II she had a job at General Electric in Pittsfield, where she met Edward B. Karam, who later founded the Edward B. Karam Insurance Agency; his name survives as part of Bardwell Bowlby Karam. They married in 1945, and he predeceased her in 1981.
After being widowed, Mrs. Karam managed rental properties in Dalton and Pittsfield. She enjoyed bowling and golf, and she traveled extensively, to Hawaii, the Caribbean, and Europe, including a trip back to Annezin. She was a communicant of St. Stephen's Episcopal Church and active in Daughters of Lebanon and Kiwanis Club.
She is survived by three sons, Edward B. Karam Jr., of New York City; John R. Karam and his wife, Mary Alice, of Belchertown; and Paul J. Karam and his wife, Patti, of Natick; three grandchildren: Jessica Karam Macintosh, and her husband, Scott, of Brooklyn, Michael of Phoenix, and Colleen of Natick; and a sister, Elizabeth "Elsie" Evans of Great Barrington. In addition to her husband, she was predeceased by her grandson Jeremy and her sister Janet. Among more informal family are the Melbourne caregivers who provided a loving environment for the last 13 years.

Funeral Notice:
Funeral services for Marcelle Morandi Karam will be held Monday, December 1, at 11:00 a.m.,
at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, 67 East Street, Pittsfield, with Rev. Cricket Cooper, Rector, officiating.
Burial will follow in Pittsfield Cemetery.
Calling hours will be Sunday, from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m., at DERY FUNERAL HOME in Pittsfield.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Hospice Care in The Berkshires in care of the
Funeral Home, 54 Bradford Street, Pittsfield.

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