Birth date: Aug 17, 1929 Death date: Feb 17, 2012
Marjorie Lee Willey, daughter of Fannie (Chase) and Van Bumgarner was born August 17, 1929 in High Point, Iowa and passed away Friday, February 17th at the age of 82 in the presence of her family at Mercy Medical Hospital in Des M Read Obituary
Please accept our deepest condolences. We have many fond memories of both your parents at the Willey reunions held in the Little Belt mountains in Montana. My folks spoke highly of your parents and know that your mom will be missed very much. We had the opportunity to stop in Corydon to see your folks several years ago and appreciated how they opened their home to us. May God give you strength and courage to face the coming days . God bless you all.
Christmas is another memory...we always ate at Grandma and Grandpa's on Christmas eve...all the three families. Before all the kids were born, we fit in their kitchen, but once all 6 offspring were here, we would only fit in the living room. Every year, the same thing happened--there'd be a noise and ONLY the men would go investigate. Of course, it would be Santa and he made a stop early, just to leave us a few presents (from G & G, of course) and remind us to go to bed so he could also stop at our homes later that night. By the time we kids were allowed up, there was nary a glimpse of Santa but there were lots of gifts! Summers, one of the fun things that many did was square-dancing--I fell asleep countless nights listening to Uncle Dick practice his calls--he had a great voice and was my first hero besides my dad. He also practiced his trombone in his kitchen window which was just opposite my bedroom, so again--my sleepy-time serenade. Aunt M would often be scurrying around the kitchen, finishing any post-meal tidying up. Oh, speaking of kitchen...her prowess as a cook is well remembered by my mom, Carolyn. We all had (and have!) 'The Ham Loaf' recipe, but Aunt Marjorie's always, always was the BEST. And mashed potatoes--we recall how many her 4 'boys' could eat at a sitting and would marvel that she found time to peel 10 pounds at a time! besides cooking anything else! Aunt Marj was always so tiny and when she was through with them, I was the recipient of her high heels and fancy dresses! I had the best dress-up clothes in the whole county! It's probably how I learned to walk in high heels! When I think of RED, I think of Aunt Marj--it was forever and always her favorite color and the last time I visited her, the first thing she asked was if I had seen her new red couch. (Continued on the next page!)
Hi Family, Don't know who all this message might reach, but cousin Gene alerted us (Kathy Willey Woodward, Carolyn Willey and family) when Aunt Marj was found. We have been praying--at first for her, but also for the family. We talked briefly to Jeff I think on Friday. Just wanted you to know how very saddened we are. Mom (Carolyn Willey) is with us for a couple of weeks, so will not be able to attend the services, for which she is most grieved. She and Aunt M were so much closer in their later years. These last few days we have had several sweet times of remembering 'the good old days'--during which times Aunt M was an ever-present part of our lives. I was enough older than the rest of Dick and Kenny Willey's kids that I can remember the wedding of Uncle Dick and Aunt Marj, as well as the birth of the rest of the cousins. Growing up next door to Aunt Marj and Uncle Dick made for a neat childhood--with Grandma and Grandpa Willey next door on the other side, the backyard was quite a compound of space for us kids. Besides the 3-yards-wide worth of garden, there were several play structures as well as TREES to climb and bushes that made great forts. Winter snow, when there was a good fall, piled up against the snowfence that Grandpa Harlan had put in for winters. That made for some great snow fort building! Oh, mustn't forget the fishing! Because our dads were fishermen of great renown around the county, they 'planted' earthworms in the backyard--we had gobs of them...walking outside after a good rain, one could pick up dozens and they made the best bait! Continued on the next submission...
