Margery Rose Binder

1930 - 2020

Margery Rose Binder

Lake Ridge, Va.

Margery Rose Binder, 89, of Lake Ridge, Va. passed away June 26, 2020 peacefully at home surrounded by family.

She lived by the motto Es mejor que nada (it's better than nothing). It instilled in her an easy-going, humble style that endeared her to students, friends and family. Margery was wife to Jim, mother to Tim, Mike, and Doug, and a teacher to thousands of high school students.

Though born at the height of the Great Depression in Grand Rapids, Mich., Margery wanted for little, owing to her engineer father and enterprising mother, Harold and Helen Rose. But the early passing of her father made the family's fortune uncertain. It was then that Margery moved with her family to Los Angeles, a short chapter that fueled a penchant for modest living and a lifelong wanderlust.

She met Leonard James "Jim" Binder while a student at Central Michigan University. As a couple, they made quite the impression on campus - she as salutatorian, he as class president and yearbook editor. They married as undergrads and started a family soon after graduation, living in several places in the Detroit suburbs.

Margery became a teacher of Spanish and Latin in Fairfax County, Va., spending time at a number of high schools. On weekends, she sold her hand-sewn wares at craft fairs, riding the late-century fashion craze for ladies' ties. Her creativity financed her adventures.

She loved to travel, spending summer weeks in Spain and Mexico to enrich her knowledge and share with her students. Her later years were punctuated with trips through Europe and Asia with Jim and other relatives and friends.

A thing of family lore was a 1969 coast-to-coast roadtrip with her three young sons, a tent and a station wagon. "Sixty-two days under canvas" is how she recalled it. More than adventure, she just really wanted to revisit California, and this was "the only way it was going to happen," she explained.

Vienna, Va., was her home for 30 years. Once retired, she and Jim split their year between Woodbridge, Va., and a home they built on the shores of Lake Michigan in Golden Township near Mears, Mich.

Margery is survived by her sons, Michael and Douglas Binder and their wives Martha and Mary; her daughter-in-law, Gina Stroud Binder; and two grandchildren, Richmond (James) and Helen (Rose) Binder.

Margery was preceded in death by her husband, L. James Binder; and her son, T. James Binder.

Funeral services will be conducted privately and interment will be in Mears Cemetery.

Beacon Cremation & Funeral Service, King-Hart Chapel, is in charge of arrangements.

www.beaconfh.com