Michael Marotta

ASHFORD…Michael Marotta (Chief Master Sergeant, Retired, United States Air Force), a resident of Ashford, died Tuesday morning, May 17, 2022, in a Dothan hospital. He was 79.

Funeral services, with full military honors, will be held at 2:00 P.M. Friday, May 20, 2022, in the Fuqua Bankston Funeral Home Chapel with Mr. John Cawley, Funeral Celebrant officiating. The family will receive friends from 1:30 until 2:00 P.M. Friday at the funeral home. Burial will be in Arlington National Cemetery at a later date.

Mr. Marotta, son of the late Salvatore Marotta and Elizabeth Davis Marotta, was a native of Brooklyn, New York and moved to Rochester, New York at an early age. He joined the United States Army and then later joined the Air Force where he retired with the rank of Chief Master Sergeant. Mr. Marotta was a veteran of the Vietnam War, where he served three tours. He earned the Distinguished Flying Cross during the Vietnam War by climbing out onto the wings of a C119 Plane because the landing gear would not come down, and he manually lowered the landing gear, saving the plane and crew. Mr. Marotta lived in various places in the United States and overseas while serving in the military and following his retirement, he began work with Civil Service where he retired in Wichita, Kansas. He moved to Dothan in 2010 and then to Ashford in 2018. Mr. Marotta was preceded in death by his father-in-law, Houston Davis, Sr.

Surviving relatives include his wife, Daphne Davis Marotta, Ashford; three children, Joanne Marotta, Pembroke, Kentucky, Allison Marotta Johnston (Rick), Walnut Creek, California, and Gino Marotta (Laura), Lawrenceville, Georgia; sister, Patricia Augustine (Jamie), two brothers, Phillip Marotta (Mary Lou) and Thomas Marotta (Lori), all of Rochester, New York; five grandchildren, Bonnie Kelley, Elizabeth Kelley, Benjamin Marotta, Nicholas Johnston, Chelsea Johnston; a great-grandson, Zachary Miller; relatives from the Davis Family, mother-in-law, Betty Thompson Davis; brothers-in-law, Houston Davis, Jr. (Anglea) and John Davis (Prudence), all of Skipperville; several nieces and nephews.