Maureen Catherine Sweeney Downing, aspiring actress

Maureen Catherine Sweeney Downing passed away Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2022. The lights may have flickered on Broadway just before midnight when our starlet took her final bow and left this world, which to her was all a stage. Born in Bronxville, N.Y., she moved to Manhattan at the age of 5, where her love of live theater and movies blossomed into a virtual obsession. 

Maureen’s own theater career was first honed at Catholic University, Washington, D.C., where she not only toured Europe with their Shakespeare group but also met her soulmate of friends and fellow drama queen, Shannon Randolph, and caught the eye of the love of her life, Charlie Downing, who preceded her in death but remained in her dreams for another 34 years until they could meet again. Her career highlights in Washington, D.C., were at WTOP, where she met a group of lifelong besties, and at The Friends of the Kennedy Center and the Motion Picture Association of America, where she could bask in the glow of movie stars and premieres.

But we all know her real job was community theater. In D.C., she performed at Chevy Chase Community Theater, Back Alley Theater, Adventure Theater, Montgomery Village Players, Silver Spring Stage, The Studio and Woolly Mammoth.

In retirement, Maureen fed her theater obsession for another 15-plus years in Sussex County thanks to all at Possum Point Players, Ad Hoc Radio, and The Shakespeare Players, where she loved the opportunity that these groups provided to keep her in the game and mentor the next generation of thespians.

Maureen is survived by her loving and far less dramatic daughters, Karen Downing and Kristine Duran; grandchildren, Brandon and Dylan Duran; and her sister, Kathy Ramaiya.

Services will be private.

Final care has been entrusted to Parsell Funeral Homes & Crematorium, Atkins-Lodge Chapel, Lewes.

Visit Maureen’s Life Memorial webpage and sign her virtual guestbook at parsellfuneralhomes.com.