Marjorie Alice Butler, 102, passed away on Sunday, December 4, 2011. She was born in Portland, Oregon on April 23, 1909 in a house across from the Grace Baptist Church. IT was in the evening and her mother heard the Church Prayer Meetings bells ring. The name Marjorie was after her mother’s cousin and the name Alice was after her mother Alice Maud and her grandmother Alice Smith.
Grandmother Alice Smith brought Marjorie’s mother Alice Maud from Birmingham, England to Portland, Oregon when she was six years old. Marjorie’s father Francis John came from Ayelsbury, England when he was 21.
Marjorie’s father started a print shop in Portland. He had previously worked with his father as a printer in England. He had a press in the basement of their Portland home. Later it became the Ryder Printing Co. on 3rd and SW Taylor.
She was the third of eight children, living on their farm in Park Place near Oregon City. They lived in several places, including near 33rd and Hancock, 72nd and Everett, and finally settling into their home on Ladd Avenue. It was there her mother died of liver cancer.
Marjorie worked for a time at Montgomery Ward, then her father asked her to work with him at the print shop as his secretary/bookkeeper, which she accepted and earned a total of $14.00 a week!
Marjorie, now living in the Ladd Avenue family home, joined the Hinson Memorial Baptist Church, formerly known as the East Side Baptist Church, when she was 13 years old. Dr. Hinson was the pastor and “a great preacher he was.”
As a teenager, she was very active in sports. She was an avid tennis player and swimmer, later becoming a lifeguard.
While sitting on the porch in Portland, President Roosevelt drove through the neighborhood in one of the first cars she had ever seen. It thrilled her when the president waved to her.
At Hinson, she became a close friend of Marguerite Pendergrass who later brought her cousin Nathan Butler to Hinson’s young people’s group. Nathan said, “I want to meet that blonde girl,” and the rest is history! Marjorie and Nathan became engaged in the spring of 1930 and were married at Hinson on August 23, 1930. Her uncle Rev. Herbert Ryder married them and Nathan’s cousin May played the organ. A reception followed at the family home on Ladd Avenue.
As newlyweds in the own home, Marjorie and Nathan read the Bible every night- a chapter a night- and eventually they read it through twice.
In the 1940’s Nathan took up flying, so Marjorie also learned how to fly the airplane.
Nathan was involved in the grocery business and eventually bought the Ladd’s Addition Grocery Store on the circle. This was very handy because they ended up living on Elliott Avenue just across the street from the store. She then worked as secretary and bookkeeper at the grocery store.
Later on Nathan sold the Ladd’s Addition Grocery Store and bought a grocery store on SW 14th and Jefferson Street in Downtown Portland. Tragedy struck when on January 9, 1951, Nathan was killed while tending the store by a man who was out of jail on good behavior. Dr. Albert G. Johnson, the minister of Hinson at that time officiated throughout the months that followed.
As time moved on, Marjorie’s life with Hinson, family, and friends continued to add great dimension to her life, wouldn’t you agree? Three children, 16 grandchildren, 38 great grandchildren, and 10 great-great grandchildren at last count!
Marjorie lived in her home on Elliott Avenue until 2001 at the age of 92. She then moved to Courtyard Plaza and added more close friends to her life. In 2007, she moved briefly to The Heights at Columbia Knoll and again made more very close friends. For the last four years she has lived in the Holgate Center Complex. She has become known as the “Pie Lady” because of her awesome talent. She can make any kind of pie and is always willing to share it with her friends. People were amazed that a person of her age could make such delicious pies from scratch!
Marjorie will be missed by all those who knew her, and her memory will carry on long past her 102 years.
A memorial service will be held on Saturday, December 10, 2011 at Hinson Memorial Baptist Church.
Arrangements under the direction of Lincoln Memorial Funeral Home, Portland, OR.
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