Marjorie Whitmarsh Young, 91, of Concord, Mass., died at her home on Jan. 19, concluding a long, rich and colorful life. She had suffered a stroke in the spring of 2003, but was able to remain at her home with the help of caregivers, family, neighbors and friends. She was the beloved wife of the late Hamilton Young.
Marjorie was born in Providence, R.I. in 1917, and was educated at The Gordon School, The Mary C. Wheeler School and Vassar College, where she graduated in 1939 with a degree in history of art.
During and after college, she spent three formative summers with The Experiment in International Living in Italy, France and Canada. In addition to The Experiment, she was active in the American Field Service, hosting high school students from many countries as they passed through Concord. For the school year of 1960-61, she was “Mummy” to Marianne Bruhn-Peterson from Denmark, and continued that connection for years, including several visits with Marianne in her homeland.
Following the war, she and her husband, Hammy, lived in Glen Ridge, N.J., Rumford, R.I., New Canaan, Conn., finally moving to Concord in 1955.
After her husband’s death in 1965, she began a career teaching art to young children at The Brooks School of Concord and later at Nashoba Brooks School. She taught for 22 years, well into her 70s, and had many devoted students.
Marjorie was a lifelong learner and had many interests, including painting in oils, acrylic and watercolor. She attended classes at The DeCordova Museum, primarily with Robert Grady and Elizabeth Ahern, and in the summers worked with Lawrence Goldsmith on Monhegan and Eric Hopkins at Haystack. Closely connected to her painting was her love of travel. An admirer of anything Greek, she traveled to painting workshops on several different Greek islands, and each of her children accompanied her on a trip.
She was a founding member of the Emerson Umbrella Center for the Arts in Concord, teaching and maintaining a studio there for many years. She showed her work and that of her students at the Concord Free Public Library, and had a one-woman retrospective at the Concord Art Association in 1993.
Marjorie was an enthusiastic soprano in the Concord Chorus for more than 20 years; the high point was singing Beethoven’s “Missa Solemnis” at the Symphony Hall. She also loved to swim, sail, ski (both downhill and cross-country), ice skate, ride horses and do anything involved with children.
Her connections to Maine spanned many decades: a folboating/camping trip along the coast with her husband in 1949, sailing on the Belgrade Lakes and in Pemaquid Harbor, skiing at Sugarloaf and Sunday River, and numerous visits with family and friends scattered about the state.
Marjorie is survived by her three children, Brenda Bragdon of Watertown, Mass., Jim Young of Phippsburg, and Penny Young of Bristol; five grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; brother, William F. Whitmarsh; two sisters-in-law, Douglas Whitmarsh and Emily Williams; nieces; nephews; grandnieces; and grandnephews; and her devoted caregiver and friend for the last four years, Rose Ewiu.
Celebration of Marjorie’s life 2 p.m., Sat., April 25 at the Emerson Umbrella, 40 Stow St., Concord, MA 01742.
If desired, contributions in Marjorie’s name may be made to the Emerson Umbrella.