Marian THACKRAY

December 16, 1930 - April 10, 2025

Bainbridge Island - Marian Thackray, educator, philanthropist, volunteer, devoted caregiver, and mother passed away April 10, at the age of 94, after a brief illness. She was felled by an aggressive form of leukemia known as AML.

Marian lived a life full of accomplishment and activity, and she took great joy in her many friends and large family. She had a Master's degree in education, and taught at a school for hearing-impaired children. She left education for a time to raise her family of four sons with her husband, Keith. When her family was mostly grown, she returned to the school and taught for 15 more years in a variety of classrooms, including further work with hearing-impaired students.

In all her life, she gave much of her abundant energy to volunteer causes, including her church, Altrusa, Tree of Sharing, the Bainbridge Island Thrift Shop, and the Helpline House food bank. She was still working at the Thrift Shop just four weeks before her passing. In the years before Keith's death, Marian was his loving caregiver as his once-sharp mind gave in to the scourge of dementia.

Marian was also known for her ability to quilt and sew. She had many sewing projects, including making lilac-colored sport coats for the marshals who kept order at Spokane's Lilac Parade. These projects resulted in an abundance of cut scraps, which in her Depression-era thrift she made into beautiful quilts and even potholders. Everyone also loved the quirky handbags she made from the tops of old pairs of jeans.

Marian (Knight) Thackray was born on a farm near Casselton, North Dakota, on December 16, 1930, to Allen and Gladys Knight. She spent her childhood on the farm, attending elementary school in a one-room schoolhouse. In high school, there were only two others in her senior class. Upon graduation in 1948, she attended Jamestown College in North Dakota, and then Teachers' College, Columbia University, where she studied education of the deaf. At Columbia, she met Helen Keller, who had come as a guest lecturer.

After graduation, she moved to Spokane, Washington to become a teacher in the Edna E. Davis School for the Acoustically Handicapped.

In 1956, she met and married Keith Thackray, and they became the parents of four sons: Mark, Todd, Brett, and Paul. In 2010, Keith and Marian moved from Spokane to Bainbridge Island, Washington, where they were able to enjoy the lives of their sons, daughters-in-law, and nine grandchildren living in the area and in Corvallis, Oregon.

Marian has made a substantial gift through her will to Doctors Without Borders. She also donated her body to the Willed Body Program at the UW Medical School, and was delighted that she "got into medical school" and could continue to be an educator, even after death.

Marian was preceded in death by her husband, Keith Thackray; and her siblings, Joe Knight, Helen Pitney, and Jeanne Radcliffe. She is survived by her sister, Phyllis Clark; and by her family of children and grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held at Eagle Harbor UCC Church, on June 22, at 2:00 pm.

Memorial gifts in Marian's name may be made to Westminster UCC, Spokane; Eagle Harbor UCC, Bainbridge Island; the American Red Cross; or Doctors Without Borders.

She will be missed by her many friends and family, who were able to gather around her on her last days and share the stories, laughter and joy she brought to everyone who knew her.