Noreen Deane-Moran

Noreen Margaret Deane-Moran, professor, community organizer, friend, and mother, died at Memorial Hospital in South Bend on the evening of Tuesday, February 11, in the company of her son, Padraic. She was 83.

Noreen was born December 1, 1941, in New York City, where she lived the first five years of her life under the care of her beloved paternal grandparents; in elementary school, she moved to the Bronx to spend the next decade and the remainder of early education in the home of a devoted maternal uncle and aunt.

Noreen's formation was shaped indelibly by her experience as an under graduate at the College of New Rochelle, the first Catholic women's college in New York, where she received a Bachelor of Arts in 1963. The three degrees that followed-a Master of Arts in Teaching, a Master of Arts, and a Ph.D.-were earned through her scholarship at the University of Notre Dame in studies focused on literature, the history of language, and in linguistics.

A lifelong educator, Noreen spent her career in classrooms, including high schools in New York and locally at John Adams High School during the Vietnam War. But she made her professional home at Notre Dame where she served as a teaching professor of English literature. Over more than four decades at the university, Noreen shared her love of reading with thousands of students. She was an invaluable mentor to students navigating academic requirements for graduation while balancing demanding extracurriculars and to graduate students arriving at English from another language and preparing for teaching responsibilities on campus.

Outside of the classroom, Noreen was a lynchpin of the Near West Side community in downtown South Bend. She helped lead work to establish a neighborhood association there in 1978-one of a small number of residents committed to its revitalization. Noreen served as organization president for decades and attended meetings as late as 2024.

Noreen loved flowers, reading late into the night, Shakespearean productions (she preferred hers be traditionally costumed), and pizzas topped with shrimp from Rocco’s. She was a season ticket holder for the Fighting Irish football team, watching games on television only when no other options remained. The summer solstice always pained her a bit; she loved her summers so.

Noreen was predeceased by her husband of nearly 49 years, Dennis Moran. She is survived by her son, Paddy, and the Near West Side community to which she devoted so much tireless energy and care. She will be sorely, keenly missed.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Tuesday, March 4, 2025 at The Basilica of the Sacred Heart at 2:30 pm. Burial will follow in Cedar Grove Cemetery.

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