Born in Lancaster, N.H., on April 4, 1934, to Ralph and Evelyn (Holmes) Glidden, Marion died peacefully at her home on Aug. 12, 2021. Marion was the eldest of two daughters. She grew up in Waldoboro on Marble Avenue and graduated from Waldoboro High School in 1952. As a young girl, she spent many summers in Cabot, Vt., making wonderful memories with her paternal grandmother, Grammie Glidden, and her Uncle Harold Ross. Marion loved to share those fond memories with her family.
At 14 years old, she started working at the Waldo Theatre on Main Street (the original movie theater) as an usher, selling tickets or popcorn. It was there that she met the love of her life – John W. Osier – when he came into the theater. They were married Aug. 23, 1952. They were blessed with six children – five daughters and a son.
Marion’s favorite activities included dancing with her husband John every Saturday night at the Blue Goose Dancehall in Winterport. She was also an avid gardener and used many of those flowers and other flora in her creative pressed flower art. Some of these were exhibited at the local Damariscotta Bank in Waldoboro. With a large family, Marion utilized her sewing skills regularly and in later years she started making quilts for her children and grandchildren. Other favorite pastimes of hers was playing the piano and cribbage tournaments with John.
Marion Osier had been affiliated with the Nobleboro Grange, the Orff’s Corner Methodist Church – as the organist, youth choir director, and as a Sunday school teacher. Later on, she and her husband were founding members of the Mid-Maine Rose Society and also were members of the Word of Life Church in Waldoboro.
Always unassuming, Marion would say she was just a housewife and mother, but she wore many hats throughout her life. She was a hard-working dairy farmer’s wife, assisting John in all aspects of the farm, plus caring for the family and maintaining the vegetable garden, canning and freezing its produce. Years later she opened her home as a daycare provider. Marion also provided loving hospice care. She worked side by side with John in their Rite-Way Carpet Cleaning business.
Always a gardener, Marion worked outside the home for a while at Holly-Hill Garden Center in Nobleboro, at Buzzy Pinkham’s Greenhouse and then at Cottage Gardens, both in Damariscotta. She became well known for creating artistic seasonal potted arrangements for clientele. Once Marion decided she should be “retired,” she became more deeply involved in the Mid-Maine Rose Society, providing editing and proofreading support for her husband’s articles and occasionally writing a piece for the newsletter.
Marion Osier was predeceased by her husband of 67 years, John W. Osier, June 18, 2019; her parents, Ralph W. Glidden, in 1988 and her mother, Evelyn (Holmes) Glidden, in 1974; her sister, Gail Quinn of Portland, in 2010; and a grandson, Dustin John Osier of Waldoboro, in 2011.
Marion is survived by Ms. Marilee E. Osier and Mr. Ken Leavitt, of Hiram; Mrs. Shelley O. Wheelock and husband Brian of Springfield, Vt.; Mrs. Connie O. Gauvin and husband Gilman, of Plantsville, Conn.; Mrs. Cindy O. York and husband David, of Waldoboro; Mrs. Janie O. Miller and husband Bill, of Waldoboro; and Mr. John William Osier, of Waldoboro; 12 grandchildren; 21 great-grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews.
A private graveside service will be held at Evergreen Cemetery in Bremen.
Hall’s of Waldoboro has care of the arrangements.
