Marjorie Carlye (White) Gould

On July 3, 2025, the Reverend Marjorie Carlye (White) Gould - known to most as Marge - passed peacefully after a short stay in hospice following a long life full of laughter and love. She was 92, loved hats, cats, music, her family, and her Lord.

Marjorie was born on December 28th, 1932, in the tiny coastal town of Jonesport, Maine, the eldest of four children born to Earl and Juanita. Her family had resided in Jonesport since the 1700s; her father raked blueberries, dug clams, and served as caretaker of Bayview Cemetery, and her mother had been fostered by relatives on the nearby Passamaquoddy Indian Township Reservation. Both parents could trace their ancestry to the initial settlements of Maine in the early 1600s - from the first boats to follow the Mayflower and build trading posts in Kittery and York - and several forefathers are recorded as veterans of the Revolutionary War.

Marjorie attended a one-room schoolhouse in Jonesport before graduating president of the inaugural National Honors Society and "class prophet" at the regional Jonesport-Beals High School. As a teenager, she experienced revelation, and dedicated her life to Jesus. After graduating high school, she traveled across the country to work and study the Bible, before founding and leading an independent congregation of the United Pentecostal Church, in Manchester, New Hampshire, at the age of 21.

In 1956, she met the Reverend Gorham K. Gould, a dashingly handsome disabled Navy veteran, fellow fiery "Maine-iac" from Princeton, and an equally evangelical and maverick minded minister; they were married on January 26th, 1957. They quickly had three children - Joy, Stephen, and David - moving their family from Maine, to South Boston, and finally to Everett, where she worked at Schrafft's candy factory before moving on to process dental insurance claims at Prudential and Blue Cross. On weekends, Gorham and Marjorie pastored countless congregations around Boston.

Their 24 post-retirement winters at the Florida Holiness Campgrounds in Lakeland, Florida, were filled with Bible study and meals with friends. Like Gorham, Marjorie preached as the sun shone: constantly, brightly, and agreeably. Egalitarian in both creed and deed, Marjorie never treated anyone differently on the basis of their standing in society, how they looked, whom they loved, or anything else.

Marjorie was a devoted mother-in-law to Joy's husband Dan and Stephen's wife Marie, and doted on her six grandsons - Christopher, Alex, Eric, Thomas, Joshua, and Matthew - who all knew her as "Nana." Marjorie was also a benevolent, behatted matriarch to her many grandkids-by-proxy, especially among Dan and Marie's families, for whom "Nana and Papa" were holiday fixtures and supplemental grandparents. She was especially delighted to participate in nuptials for Christopher (and Stephanie) and Eric (and Justine).

Marjorie brought light and warmth and tenderness and humor to everyone she met. When teased, she laughed uproariously like a muppet, and then would tease right back even harder. She loved car rides and animals and Wheel of Fortune and Squishmallows and McDonalds and her many friends at the Nashua Crossings assisted living facility.



After a sudden health event in late June, Marjorie began to speak of Gorham coming to visit her, and expressing her desire to be with him, and she was moved to the Community Hospice House in Merrimack, New Hampshire. On the evening of July 3rd, the hospice chaplain and her family read her the Lord's Prayer, and a hospice choir sang her "The Old Rugged Cross" and "Amazing Grace;" she passed, peacefully, within the hour, to go see Gorham and God together in Heaven's bright city.

Marjorie was preceded on her trip to that beautiful shore by her beloved husband of 66 years Gorham, her parents Earl and Juanita, her younger siblings Nadine, Beatrice, and Bert, and her youngest son David, among countless other family and friends, particularly Richard Peasley, her lifelong friend and correspondent from Jonesport.

On this side of heaven, her memory runs through the minds and hearts of her sister-in-law Sandra White, whom she loved as her own sister; her children Joy and Stephen, their spouses, their children, and their children's families; David's children and their families, including her infant great-granddaughter Thea, whom she never met but delighted in nonetheless; various cousins, nieces and nephews; everyone at Nashua Crossings and the Holiness Campground; and many, many more who loved her.

In lieu of flowers, please remember Marjorie by living as she did: fearlessly, kindly, and full of laughter, with open arms and an open heart to any and all. Ride the bus and talk to a stranger, especially if they are someone who looks like they need someone to talk to. Tremulously warble "ohhh, that darling baby!" whenever you see one. Act every day as if you believe, with total sincerity, that blessed are the poor, and the meek, and the pure of heart, and that these shall inherit the kingdom of heaven. And when the challenges of life try to slow you down, run forward to the light, and never look back.

In order to send condolences to be read to Marjorie's family, or to be informed about a celebration of Marjorie's life to be held later, you may fill out the form at https://bit.ly/MargeMemorial. If you would like to sing a hymn in her memory, you can find the hymn that she and Gorham wrote at https://bit.ly/PapaHymn.

An extended online biography and eulogy is available online at https://bit.ly/NanaObit.