Marilee Rocco Swirczek was born in Sharon, Mercer County, Pennsylvania, United States to Peter Samuel Rocco and Alice Tyson, who is married to Tom Tyson. Swirczek is the stepsister of Laura Tyson and Tom Tyson Jr.

Swirczek grew up in Pennsylvania and started teaching after earning her master’s degree in education. Here are 13 more things about her:

1. In 1960, her grandmother Mary Elia Rocco died at the age of 72.
2. On September 26, 1963, her father died in Sharon at the age of 43.
3. She is Tudor Chirila Jr.‘s former wife. They were residents of Honolulu, Hawaii, USA when he reported their car stolen from the parking lot of the Kawailoa School for Girls in Kailua, Hawaii on March 11, 1971. The car was recovered on March 15, 1971.
4. In 1979, she gave birth to Jennifer Hope Chirila. Jennifer married Joel Locke.
5. In 1980, she gave birth to Stephanie Faith Chirila. Stephanie married Jorden Reid Swart.
6. In 1982, she gave birth to John Peter Chirila. He married Danielle Chirila.
7. From 1987 to 1990, she served on the Carson City Board of Supervisors in Carson City, Nevada, USA.
8. In 1990, she became a professor at Western Nevada College in Carson City. In the same year, she married Ronald C. Swirczek. She became the stepmother of his children Betty Swirczek and David Swirczek. Betty married John DeRicco while David married Jodi Swirczek.
9. In 1997, her uncle James L. Rocco died at the age of 80. In 1998, her uncle Frank A. Rocco died at the age of 80.
10. In 2010, she received the Daughters of American Revolution Medal of Honor for her extraordinary patriotism. In the same year, her aunt Angela Marie Rocco May died in Farrell, Mercer County died at the age of 88.
11. Upon the death of Maya Angelou on May 28, 2014, she wrote, “I was thinking about her and her life today—she truly used her art to teach, to comfort, to witness. There’s a hole in the soul of the universe.”
12. On September 8, 2015, her sister Sandra Rocco Richman died in Gardnerville, Douglas County, Nevada at the age of 65.
13. On July 17, 2016, she died in Carson City at the age of 68.