Marjorie Taylor (Stevenson) Hunter, 91, of Edgecomb, died peacefully on May 10 at St. Andrew’s Village in Boothbay Harbor.
Marjorie led a long and interesting life. She was born Nov. 6, 1921 to Robert and Margaret (Taylor) Stevenson, in Edinburgh, Scotland, and traveled at the age of 5 months to Dibrugarh, Assam, India, where her parents managed a tea plantation. Her adventures in India included being chased by a water buffalo, riding an elephant, and owning a pet mongoose.
At age 7, she traveled back to Edinburgh to attend St. Oran’s School for Girls. She graduated at age 17, then returned to India, planning to stay with her parents for a year before returning to Britain to continue her education in medicine. But the outbreak of WWII prevented further travel. Instead, she received nursing training, volunteered at a mission hospital, and served for 2½ years in the Auxiliary Nursing Service in India. In 1942 she met a dashing young American engineer, Robert Davis Hunter of Sudbury, Mass., a major in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, building roads and airfields in India and Burma. They were married in Dibrugarh in 1944, and she sailed with him on a troop ship, across the Pacific to America, her new home.
Marjorie and Bob settled in Sudbury and then Contoocook, N.H. for seven years, where their two sons were born. In 1953 they moved to Augusta where Bob was Division Engineer for the Federal Highway Administration. 1954 was a busy year, when the family moved to the West River Road in Sidney, and Marjorie gave birth to a daughter. They lived there from 1954 until Bob’s death in 1974.
Marjorie was active in the West River Road Volunteer Fire Dept. Auxiliary, making many excellent pies for public suppers. She also put her nursing training to good use, volunteering for the Sidney Health Council, which provided free physicals and vaccinations for all the children at James H. Bean School.
She enjoyed flower gardening, sewing, knitting, rug hooking, and bagpipe music. She and Bob hosted his annual office picnic for several years. She spent countless hours driving the children to football, hockey, and baseball practices and games, and often transported half the team in the family station wagon.
She also very much enjoyed joining Bob in his work, traveling together on road inspection trips, to bridge opening ceremonies, and conventions. She was a fine letter-writer, staying in close touch with her parents, who retired to Scotland. Marjorie and her children visited them there in 1953 and 1964, and the Stevensons visited the family in Maine nearly every other summer. After the death of Marjorie’s father, her mother came to live with the family in Sidney in 1966, and Marjorie took care of her until her death at age 95 in 1982.
In 1975 Marjorie and her mother moved to Augusta, where they enjoyed reading, TV, jigsaws, and working on impossibly difficult crossword puzzles together. They spent summers at Indian Point, Georgetown where they hosted many family gatherings. In Augusta, Marjorie volunteered for Meals on Wheels, and was a member of the South Parish Congregational Church, serving as deacon, clerk, and in the Women’s Guild. She enjoyed driving, and made many trips to Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Edgecomb to visit her children and their families, and to help baby-sit her grandchildren. She also enjoyed the company of her sister-in-law, Dorothy (Hunter) Burnham Thomas of Springfield, Mass., and they took several trips together, to Britain and Canada. In 2005, Marjorie moved to Edgecomb to live with her daughter and her family.
She is survived by her sons, John and wife Erika of Lee, N.H., and David, wife Sonia of Cos Cob, Conn., and their children Eric, Michael, and Julie; daughter, Margaret (Maggie), husband Van Reid of Edgecomb and their children, Hunter and Mary; nieces, Valerie (Burnham) Oliver, Linda (Burnham) Peck, and Nancy (Hunter) Daisey; and nephew, John Burnham, and their families.
A service to celebrate Marjorie’s life will be held 2 p.m., Sat., June 8 in the chapel at the South Parish Congregational Church, 9 Church St. in Augusta.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the church.
Memories, condolences, videos and photographs may be shared with the family at www.khrfuneralhomes.com.
Arrangements are in the care of Knowlton & Hewins Funeral Home and Cremation Service, One Church St., Augusta.
