CASSELS WINSTON-SALEM - Marie Lelah (LaValley) Cassels, 87, passed away on Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2010 at Arbor Acres. Marie was born April 24, 1922 to Arthur and Elizabeth (Burnett) LaValley, in Moira, NY. Marie attended Moira High School where she was a cheerleader, and a member of the band and the basketball team. She enjoyed writing poems. She graduated in 1939 as salutatorian and president of her class of ten students. She played the piano well, and performed on the piano during her high school graduation ceremony. After completing a one-year executive secretary program at Albany Business College in Albany, NY, Marie was employed as a motor vehicle clerk in the Franklin County Clerk's office in Malone, NY. Later that year she began work as a clerk/steno with the Army Corps of Engineers in Massena, NY. While working as the secretary to the head of the engineering department for the St. Lawrence Seaway, she met Bill Cassels, a civil engineer. They married in Malone, NY, on April 4, 1942. Two months later Bill was transferred to New York City. There, Marie was employed as a secretary for the Manhattan District of the War Department, working on the Manhattan Project -- the secret effort to develop nuclear weapons during World War II. Marie continued to accompany Bill on his Army Corps of Engineers assignments in Miami, Ocala, and then to Washington, DC. She devoted herself to raising her children in a healthy and happy home. After her children were grown, she worked as a secretary at the State Medical Examiner's office in Fairfax County, VA, until she and Bill retired to Florida, where they built a home in San Mateo on the St. Johns River. Marie was primary caregiver for Bill while he suffered from Parkinson's Disease. After Bill died in 1994, Marie moved to Winston-Salem, NC in 1999, and has been a resident of Arbor Acres Retirement Community there since 2001. Most important to Marie were her family, her friends and her church. She was an avid letter-writer and emailer, maintaining frequent life-long correspondence with family, friends and neighbors, until 2007 when she became unable to write or use a keyboard. Marie always had a kind greeting for everyone that she met. She was an active member of St Mary's Catholic Church in Brushton, NY, a founding member of the John Calvin Presbyterian Church in Falls Church, VA; active in the First Presbyterian Church in Palatka; and enjoyed being a part of the Centenary United Methodist Church in Winston Salem, NC. Marie was an excellent cook, known for her caramel cake, oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and scrambles. She was very interested in genealogy, contributing articles about her vivid childhood memories to the Moira Historical Association Newsletter. Marie is survived by her four children, Jim and wife, Linda of Sagle, ID, Bill and wife, Marylee of Huntsville, AL, David and wife, Debbie of Winston-Salem, NC, and Patti and husband, Richard of Walnut Cove, NC; her nine grandchildren, Barbara Starkey, Bill Cassels, Lawson Cassels, Ashley Cassels, Lindsay Cassels, Sarah Ross, Christine Ross, and Grace and Hannah Ross; and two great-grandchildren, Ariel and Shawn Starkey. The family thanks the staff of Arbor Acres, who cared for Marie with love, affection and respect. The family asks that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made in memory of Marie to the Arbor Acres Resident Assistance Fund, 1240 Arbor Road, Winston-Salem, NC 27104-1197. Online condolences may be made at www.mem.com. A Memorial Service will be at Arbor Acres Fellowship Hall at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Feb 13. Interment will be at St. Mary's Cemetery in Brushton, NY.