11/28/1932 – 10/26/2024
Lawrence
Marjorie Eleanor Walton died Saturday, October 26, 2024, at Pioneer Ridge Assisted Living in Lawrence, KS. A Memorial Service will be held Tuesday, November 26, 2024, at 2pm at Rumsey-Yost Funeral Home in Lawrence, KS.
She was born November 28, 1932, in Liberal, KS, in the heart of the Dust Bowl during the Great Depression. One of four children, she had two older brothers, James and Robert, and a younger sister, Norma.
Her mother, Eleanor Kendall, was a librarian and a lover of books and reading, and her father, Carl Kendall, was a lover of baseball. She inherited and carried on both of these passions to her family and friends. She was an avid Jane Austen fan and faithfully re-read “Pride and Prejudice” every year. She reveled in taking her children and grandchildren to libraries and bookstores. She also loved the Kansas City Royals and was thrilled to see them in the 2014 World Series (she attended the first game) and then win the 2015 World Series. She added her own love of Kansas Jayhawks basketball and of professional tennis. Two of her happiest memories in recent years were being in San Antonio in 2008 to see the Jayhawks win the NCAA title, and then seeing Roger Federer on Centre Court at Wimbledon in 2013 with her children and grandchildren.
Marjorie’s family moved from Liberal to Topeka in the 1940s to be near other relatives. Marjorie graduated from high school there and started part-time at Washburn and then at McPherson College, while supporting herself working at libraries and bookstores. She soon decided that she wanted to experience teaching in a one-room schoolhouse before they were eliminated, and she took a job at London School in Peck, KS. There, she met a wonderful community, including her future husband Gene Walton.
They married in May 1957 and farmed together in Peck. They had a daughter Linda in August 1961. Gene died in a farm accident in November 1963. Their daughter Rita was born in June 1964.
Marjorie and her daughters moved to Lawrence and then to Topeka, and Marjorie finished her college degree at KU and Washburn. She graduated from Washburn in 1970, majoring in history, another lifelong passion. They then returned to south-central Kansas, moving to Belle Plaine. She remarried there and acquired five new children. In February 1973, her daughter Karen was born. The marriage ended in divorce in 1977.
While she lived in Belle Plaine, she served on the Library Board and the School Board, volunteered as a 4-H leader, and later began working as a reporter for the Belle Plaine News. Eventually, she became the editor of the Oxford Register and the Clearwater Times.
She moved back to Lawrence in the 1990s and worked in apartment management until her retirement in 2004. In her years after retirement, she remained active in volunteer activities, especially as a leader in the local FCE branch.
She also supported and contributed widely to social justice nonprofits, especially those focusing on women’s rights and racial justice.
She fiercely loved her grandchildren and her nieces and nephews, and stayed very involved with them. She also loved contributing stories for the family genealogy.
She was preceded in death by her husband Gene Walton; by her siblings, James Kendall, Robert Kendall, and Norma Hunt; and by her beloved stepson Brian Holinde.
She is survived by her daughters Linda Walton, Rita Walton, and Karen Hogan; her grandchildren Copper Crane, Clio Walton, James Hogan, and Ace Hogan; and her stepchildren Renee Ockwood, Gerard Holinde, Michelle Hamilton, and Mary Hunt, as well as by their children; by Brian’s sons, Kyle, Kolten, Karter, and Kole Holinde; and by many nieces and nephews.
To honor Marjorie’s love of books and libraries, the family suggests memorial donations to Lawrence Public Library Friends & Foundation, 707 Vermont St., Lawrence, KS 66044; LPLFF.org.
Online condolences made at rumsey-yost.com
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