Cecilia Ciana Maddlone

Cecilia Ciana Maddlone, 65, of Westminster passed away prematurely on Tuesday, September 5, 2023, at Carroll Hospital as a result of her ongoing battle with metastatic breast cancer. Affectionately known as CeCe, she was born September 25, 1957, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Josephine Marinelli Chejne and Anwar Chejne. She was the much beloved wife of Frank Maddlone, her loving husband of 22 years. CeCe was a force of nature; a person born of music and imbued with immense talent, introspective wisdom, charitable kindness, and a devoted love of nature. Prior to her illness, CeCe headed a Strategic Communications team supporting the Veterans Administration (VA) pertaining to aspects of training and information dissemination related to the plight of Veterans dealing with life-altering challenges such as stress, homelessness, and depression. As a filmmaker, she also produced, directed, and edited a variety of short videos for the VA that were posted on their national website, as well as used for congressional meetings on Capitol Hill. Three of her greatest passions were music, dance, and horses. From an early age, CeCe was exposed to music of all genres through her mother, a professional opera singer. CeCe combined her love of music and dance by studying ballet professionally in New York and Minneapolis under the tutelage of some of the most influential dancers and choreographers of the 20th century. She was also a talented stage actress; a runner-up for the prestigious Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship, CeCe was a performer for whom playwrights would design scenes as performance pieces. She modeled professionally in Minneapolis where she eventually took her place behind the camera creating imaginative advertising campaigns, eventually teaching the fine art of performance, design, and cosmetics to upcoming models and actors to help enhance their careers. This led to memorable experiences such as appearing as an extra in the movie Purple Rain during one of the concert scenes. Horses played a large part in CeCe's life, and she owned several in her lifetime. She raised and trained them on her ranches in Arizona, Virginia, and Maryland. She called upon her skills in choreography and music to help elevate the art of Dressage musical freestyle. She designed customized musical freestyles for the global Dressage community, eventually writing and publishing a successful book on the subject entitled, Rhythm Riding: A Guide to Riding With Music, co-written with her husband and distributed by Trafalgar Press. Her eclectic professional background also included a lucrative period as a realtor in AZ; Director of Marketing for a Washington DC firm where she supported government contracts for the Pentagon, Veterans Administration, HUD, the Department of Education, and the Army Corps of Engineers; and a successful catering company with clients across the US Mid-Atlantic and portions of the East Coast. She also wrote, produced, and published an eBook on her favorite chicken recipes from around the world, and was an accomplished artist who created customized portraiture work for selective clients across the United States. Throughout her too short life, CeCe traveled extensively around the world as a young woman with her parents, her father having been an accomplished and celebrated professor of Spanish, Portuguese and Middle Eastern Languages. This relationship, combined with her BA from the University of Minnesota, honed her creative and organizational skills, exposing her to a wide variety of philosophies, literature, art, and cultures. Her infectious smile endeared her to all she met, and her irrepressible humor lightened any occasion. Her dedication to her craft was well-known, and her innovative creativity was sought out by many. Her life was about passion, understanding, collaboration, caring, and teaching. She was a Reiki and Tai Chi Master. She took on the role of caregiver three times in her life – for her mother, father, and husband when each faced a life-altering event. Each time, CeCe disregarded her own goals for the sake of ensuring their health, comfort, and wellbeing. Regardless of the situation, CeCe was dedicated to caring, and it reflected in everything she set out to do. Above all, her life was about love – love of nature, of life, of music, and the love of her husband, friends, and family. CeCe is survived by her husband, Frank; cousins Donna Pierro (and her husband, Chas); Joya Angelo, and Benita Nicholas (and her husband Alex), all from the Philadelphia area, and Nina Martino from San Miguel Allende, Mexico; nieces Alicia Pierro (and her life partner Don McCloskey), Michael Pierro, Dr. Veronica Mahon, Alexander Nicholas, all from PA; one sibling, John Chejne (and his spouse, Connie), from Minneapolis; one brother-in-law, David Moreno of CA, and one niece, Stephanie Moreno of CA. The family will have a virtual Celebration of Life at a future date to be announced. In lieu of flowers or cards, please make donations in CeCe's honor to your local homeless shelters, animal shelters, food pantries, the Minnesota Dance Theatre, the Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, or the American Cancer Society.