Marcia Joan Romick

1934 - 2025

Marcia J. Romick passed away on Oct. 30, 2025, in Portland, Oregon. She was born on Sept. 28, 1934, in Chicago, Illinois. She was preceded in death by her husband of 71 years, Gerald J. Romick (Oct. 15, 2025); her parents, Florence (Dobrusin) and Joseph Rosten; her sister and brother-in-law, Sandra and Danny Plotnick; and her granddaughter, Maia Hisamoto. She is survived by her six children, Joan (Shelly) Romick, Jay (Jan) Romick, Carl (Cindy) Romick, Mark (Angela) Romick, Eliel (Mark) Fionn, Michael (Alice) Romick; 15 grandchildren and their partners; 13 great-grandchildren; and numerous cousins, nieces and nephews in Alaska, Washington, California and Illinois.
After growing up in Chicago she and her family moved to Los Angeles. In 1953, she enrolled at the University of California Los Angeles. She met her husband Jerry there and they married on Sept. 5, 1954. They moved to Fairbanks, Alaska in 1955 after the birth of their first child (Joan) where Jerry enrolled in the doctoral program for geophysics at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
Marcia and Jerry proceeded to add to their family having five more children in the next seven years. Marcia completed her BA in Elementary Education in 1975 from the University of Alaska Fairbanks and her MA in Education in 1979 from University of Colorado, Denver. She began working for the Fairbanks School District in 1976 as a schoolteacher. She moved, with her family, to Colorado in 1978 for graduate school, while Jerry took sabbatical from UAF. After returning from Colorado, she began working for the FNSB and started the inaugural gifted and talented program at Hunter elementary. When asked the key to her success as a teacher, she replied "I experimented on my six kids, so I knew what worked and I grew up in Chicago in the 1930's."
She was an adventurous cook, raising her family on eastern European, Asian and American food in quantities that would suffice for seven hungry kids (her husband being one). She taught all her children the joys of cooking and how to sew on a button. She made clothes, hats, gloves and parkas for her children to accommodate the Fairbanks winter climate. She and Jerry were active in local swimming (everyone in the family swam), she hosted numerous visiting swim team members, AFS students and the occasional family friend. As her children got older, she branched out into silversmithing and sold many pieces in the Fairbanks area. She and Jerry always had a flower and vegetable garden in the summer.
After her retirement from the FNSB School District in 1987, she and Jerry move to the east coast, where Marcia continued her avocation as an orchid grower, volunteered at the Smithsonian Museum and worked for the Center for Talented Youth. She and Jerry often went to plays and other artistic events. After Jerry's retirement from John Hopkins Applied Physics Lab in 2000, they moved to Eugene, Oregon, where they lived until their move to a SW Portland assisted living community in 2022. While in Eugene, Marcia continued her love of gardening and orchid growing, becoming an orchid competition judge and the president of the Eugene orchid society. She continued to add to her voluminous collection of cookbooks which found new homes throughout the family.
With a stoic and calm demeanor, she and Jerry raised their children to appreciate good food, how to eat fast with chopsticks and childlike behavior. Attending a costume party one year she wore a note on her dress that said, "My costume can only be seen by the pure of heart." She was actively involved in supporting equitable, quality public education and women's rights her whole life.
She will be fondly remembered by all those who worked with her in the education field and sorely missed by her family. Her life was filled with family and food. In remembrance, her family suggests hugging your favorite teacher and making generous contributions to democratic and educational organizations, public broadcasting and your local parks.