There is joy in heaven today as Marjorie Louise (Stone) Williams (98) was welcomed home on Wednesday, June 12, 2019 from Colonial Oaks Health Care Center.
Marjorie was born May 31, 1921 in Madison, IN to Charles and Fayette (Broughman) Stone, the 7th of 13 children. She was raised on a farm that lay along 38th Street and Stone Road (named for her parents). Always a good student, she attended Roosevelt School and Marion High School graduating in 1938, the same year as two of her four brothers. As a student and a young woman, Marjorie took elocution lessons, preparing her well for a lifetime of presentations, readings, and programs for many groups and churches. She graduated from Indiana Business College and spent her career as an Executive Secretary, retiring in 1983 as Secretary to the Plant Manager at Anaconda (Ericsson).
Marjorie married the love of her life, Howard Mentzer Williams on June 29, 1946 and they were married 27 years until his death on March 31, 1974. They had one daughter, Carolyn Jean and one son, Roger Howard who died in infancy. Howard lost his sight when Marjorie was 42; so from that time on, she became the sole breadwinner of the family as well as support to her blind husband as he served on the Marion City Council and later the Marion School Board as well as several other agency boards. She spent many hours weekly reading material to him to enable this service.
After her retirement, Marjorie spent years volunteering for Visiting Nurses’ Hospice Organization and then as Chaplain’s Assistant at Marion General Hospital. She held leadership positions in Church Women United, Marion 1st Baptist Church, ABWA and Marion Grant County Senior Center. She served on the Board of Directors of Grant-Blackford Mental Health Center. She sang in church choirs all her life, often with ladies trios, and in the Best Years Singers, adding her strong alto voice to lead the section.
Marjorie was also well-known for her excellent pie-making, providing her one-of-a-kind butterscotch pies to many fund-raising dinners and sharing her incomparable peanut butter fudge with friends and family. When friends describe Marge, they used words like ‘sweet’, ‘servant’, ‘selfless’, and ‘devout Christian’.
Marjorie was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, Howard; son, Roger; brothers, Jim and Richard; sisters, Elizabeth, Helen, Mary Ruth, Margaret Ann, Kathryn, Frances, Jean and Christina.
She is survived by her daughter, Carolyn Jean Williams of Marion; special adopted daughter, Cathy Harner of Marion; and brothers, John (Mabel) Stone of Bowling Green, KY and Robert (Lura) Stone of Ligonier, IN; many nieces and nephews; and 2 grandcats, Mozart and Rachmaninoff.
Friends and family may call from 10:00 a.m. to noon on Friday, June 21, 2019 at the First Baptist Church, 403 W. Fourth Street, Marion, Indiana. Memorial Services will begin at noon with Reverend Laurie Wolcott and Reverend Jeanne Ness officiating.
Arrangements entrusted to Raven-Choate Funeral Home, 1202 W. Kem Road, Marion, Indiana.
Online condolences may be shared at www.ravenchoate.com