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Marjorie
"Marge" Markel has been a member of FCCF since 2007. She was born
in eastern Nebraska during the Great Depression as Marjorie Thompson.
Her Father, Mother and brother, Royal IV, moved to the farm when she
was about 12. Marge's father did not farm so they rented their
land to nearby farmers while her father continued to work in the city.
Marge's father was a "practicing" lawyer for about a year but
gave up the bar because he found the work too close to lying.
Royal
was several years older than Marge, and as with any sibling
relationship, size matters. He could tease Marge "Royally" and
often did. One day, Marge's mother made liver and mashed squash
for dinner, both of which Royal detested. At dinner Marge saw an
opportunity to get back at Royal so she said, "Here Royal, have some
steak", as she passed him the liver. Mother and Father did not
say a word. He took a slice and began to eat. "This is liver!", he
exclaimed ejecting the liver from his mouth. "Eat some of this
applesauce. It will take the taste of liver out of your mouth",
said Marge helpfully as she passed Royal the mashed squash. Again,
Mother and Father did not say a word. Marge was rolling with laughter
as Royal gagged on the squash while Mom and Dad tried to maintain
straight faces. With the beginning of World War II, Royal was drafted and Marge went to work at a soda fountain for $0.15 per hour. Before the end of the war, Marge started school at the University of Nebraska. Ask Marge to tell of the time she was at the train station and, quite by accident, found her soldier brother coming home on an unexpected leave.
Marge's roommate at the university, Rosemary,
was engaged to marry Melvin "Bud" Markel. Before they were married,
Rosemary met another young man and within a week married him. Bud
must have been a little discouraged because he moved to California. As
luck would have it, Marge and her parents moved to California at the
end of her freshman year. Rosemary asked Bud to show Marge around and
keep her from being lonely. Bud seemed to like this task because he and
Marge were soon married. During the early years of their marriage, Bud
continued in school until he graduated while Marge began a career in
banking.Over the next several years, Marge and Bud adopted eight children: Melvin, Marta, Melanie, Michael, Mark, Megan, Matthew, and Mollie. (Do you see a trend here?) Marge and Bud always wanted twins but the adoption agency never had any twins available. Solution? They put together two youngsters of nearly the same age but from different moms to form a set of twins, Matthew and Mollie. Tragically, two of the children, Marta and Megan, were killed when the Markel's house burned.
Marge and Bud were very different conversationalists. Marge loves to talk and Bud loved to listen. Once, while on a very long drive, Marge felt that But was not holding up his end of the conversation. Marge decided to remain silent for the rest of the trip. When they pulled into the driveway at home, Bud said, "That was a pleasant drive, wasn't it?" We are still not sure who's leg was pulled the furtherest.
In addition to raising children, Marge, had a long career in association with Redlands Savings and Loan where she was the Information Technologist. Of course, her job was not called Information Technologist at the time. Bud worked in the aircraft industry, primarily for Rockwell. After retirement, they eventually made their way to Sedona and attended the Sedona United Methodist Church. While in Sedona, their granddaughter, Amanda, came to live with them. Bud died soon after. Some time later, Marge moved to Flagstaff with her daughter and son-in-law. When her son-in-law finished school, Marge and Amanda moved back to California until Amanda finished high school. By some happy coincidence, Marge, Marge's daughter and son-in-law all moved back to Flagstaff and now share a large house on the north side of town.
Marge has been attending FCCF for a few years now. She sings tenor in our choir and capably serves on the Pastor-Parish Relations Committee. She is a wonderful conversationalist and has lots of great stories but be very cautious if she offers you some applesauce.