Marian Alice Greenwood Costello

Marian Alice Greenwood Costello was born on September 2, 1920, in Colwell, Iowa, and died peacefully at home on July 5, 2025, in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. She was 104 years old.

The oldest of four children, she grew up on her parents' farm in northeast Iowa. She fondly recalled riding to school in a horse-drawn school bus, outfitted with sleigh runners in the winter, and warmed by an oil stove over which students made popcorn. Among the many farm habits she continued throughout her life were drying laundry outside on a clothesline, making homemade soap, and eating seasonally. She knew when spring asparagus were due, when local strawberries would be available for pies, and where she could buy corn on the cob picked fresh from the field.

She attended the College of Saint Teresa in Winona, Minnesota for two years, and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Iowa in 1940, where she was a member of Alpha Delta Pi sorority. During her years in Iowa City, she broadcast news and radio plays on WSUI, one of several AM stations opened by Midwestern universities during the early days of radio, and still in existence today.

After World War II, Marian moved to Minneapolis, and made lifelong friends living in a big house with other young women who worked in the city. She was the executive assistant to the chair of the Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce. She continued to promote Minneapolis and the state of Minnesota forever afterward.

In the summer of 1948, Marian met John Costello on a blind date at Interlochen Country Club in Minneapolis. They were married June 13, 1949, and celebrated their 62nd wedding anniversary before John's death in 2011.

Marian and John moved their family to Bloomfield Hills in 1957, when John was transferred from Minneapolis to Ford Motor Company headquarters in Dearborn. In 1967, they moved into their house on Conge Drive, which they designed and built. For over 55 years, it was filled with family, friends, and delicious food.

The unique thing about Marian was the many connections she maintained with friends and relatives. She never owned a computer or used a cellphone, and rarely watched TV. Instead, she wrote letters, and talked with friends and family on her landline. Her door was always open, the refrigerator full, and there were homemade cookies, cakes, and pies in abundance. If you stayed overnight, your bed was made up with line-dried hand-ironed sheets and pillowcases.

As was her wish, Marian lived in her home until the end, feeding the birds (the rose-breasted Grosbeak was her favorite) and enjoying the passing parade of deer and many forms of wildlife in the surrounding woods.

Marian was a Silver Life member of The Village Club, and a founding member of the Bloomfield Republican Women's Club. Marian and John (alumnus) were active members of the University of Minnesota Club of Detroit. For over 20 years, she sold Minnesota wild rice to raise scholarship funds, and was honored with the Minnesota Alumni Association's Outstanding Friend Award. She was an active volunteer at the Meadow Brook Music Festival. She was a parishioner at St. Hugo of the Hills and St. Thomas More, and enjoyed Christmas services at The Academy of the Sacred Heart.

Marian is survived by her children, Elaine (Thompson) Potter, Robert Costello, Daniel Costello, Cynthia (Cimarron) Buser, and Michael (Melinda) Costello. Her grandchildren are Mary Potter, James Costello, Paul and Colette Buser, and Quinn and Jack Costello. Marian was preceded in death by her parents Maurice Almon and Mary (Riedel) Greenwood, her husband John Bernard Costello, her son James Patrick Costello, and her siblings Mildred Greenwood (Sr. Elaine), Maurece Bumbre, and Paul Greenwood.

A mass in celebration of Marian's life will be held at The Academy of the Sacred Heart, 1250 Kensington Road, Bloomfield Hills on Saturday, September 6th at 11:00am. The family will receive guests in the parlor at Sacred Heart beginning at 9:30am.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial tributes be made to:

The Academy of the Sacred Heart

https://www.ashmi.org/giving/make-a-gift

or

The Village Club Foundation

https://www.thevillageclub.org/philanthropy