Marjorie Nelson

1939 - 2023

State College, PA Marjorie Ellen Nelson Perisho, 83, of State College, Pennsylvania passed away on December 29, 2022, following a stroke. Marjorie was born to Earl S. Nelson and Elda Toner Nelson in Kokomo. Indiana, on June 24, 1939. She graduated from Kokomo High School, received a Bachelor of Science from Earlham College, and in 1965, a Doctor of Medicine degree from Indiana University. She completed both her internship and her residency at the Pennsylvania Hospital in central Philadelphia. Her first two months of residency were spent on the hospital ship, Hope, serving medical needs of people in Guinea and Sierra Leone. Her residency also included rotations at the Philadelphia General Hospital and the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta, GA.

During her residency Marjorie was deeply involved in the Quaker organization, Young Friends of North America (YFNA). Twice she attended international meetings of the Prague Christian Youth Peace Conference as YFNA's representative. The Vietnam War was raging, and in September 1967 Marjorie was on her way to Vietnam with the American Friends Service Committee to provide medical care to civilians suffering from the ravages of the war. Three months into her medical work in Quang Ngai, on a visit to Hue, during the Tet offensive, she was taken captive by soldiers of the National Liberation Front (NLF). By that time Marjorie was able to converse in Vietnamese and was treated respectfully during her two-month captivity, as detailed in her book, "To Live in Peace in the Midst of the Vietnam War." Following her release Marjorie returned to Quang Ngai for another year to continue serving those suffering from the War.

Marjorie and Robert Perisho were married in 1971. They lived in New Haven, CT, while Robert completed his Ph.D. in physics and Marjorie completed a master's degree in Public Health at Yale. Their son, Christopher Robert Perisho, was born in 1972. The family then moved to Pittsburgh where Robert did postdoctoral work and Marjorie worked with Planned Parenthood. In 1975 they moved to Salt Lake City where Robert was to take an academic position. Shortly after their arrival in Utah Robert died of encephalitis. Marjorie served there as Medical Director of Planned Parenthood until 1977, when she and Christopher moved to Athens, OH. In Ohio Marjorie served as Planned Parenthood's Medical Director and as a faculty member of the new Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine (OUCOM). Her expertise in public health was important in the early evolution of OUCOM. Her work as a physician was deeply appreciated by her patients and by her professional colleagues in Athens.

During her life Marjorie enjoyed tai chi and archery and was a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism. She also wrote the Star Trek novel, "Pawns and Symbols," using the pseudonym "Marjliss Larson". A lifelong Quaker, Marjorie was a founding member of the Athens Friends Meeting. Upon her retirement Marjorie moved to State College, PA, to live in the Quaker retirement community of Foxdale. In State College she became a valued member of both the Foxdale community and of the State College Friends Meeting.

In 2022 Marjorie was honored by her home county of Howard, IN, when she was selected to be included in the Howard County Hall of Legends. She was selected because, in the words of her father, "she looked for ways to live out her belief that war is wrong and that the lives of all people are to be valued."

Marjorie is survived by her son, Christopher Clarence Robert Perisho, of Portland, OR, her brother, Beryl Nelson, of the Turks and Caicos, and a nephew, Chris Nelson of Milford, MI. She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, Robert Perisho, and her brother, Keith Nelson. Memorial services will be held in State College, in Athens, Ohio, and in Michigan at times to be announced. Marjorie's ashes will be buried in Bad Axe, MI, at a Nelson family gravesite. In lieu of flowers memorial donations may be given to the Quaker UN Office, Friends World Committee on Consultation, Friends General Conference and the Hoai Nam Memorial Scholarship Fund at Earlham College.

Marjorie Nelson