Marjorie McCormick's Obituary
Marjorie Alice (Brevik, Pense) McCormick
The family and friends of Marjorie McCormick celebrate 83 years of a life well-lived and well-loved. Marjorie joined her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, on Thursday, December 24, 2009. She valiantly and gracefully fought cancer for six months before she left this life peacefully, at home in Parkland, Washington, surrounded by loved ones.
Marge was born fifth of eight children in a four-room farmhouse near Burke, South Dakota, on March 31, 1926; daughter of Berth Rosenius Brevik (Bert) and Elsie Mae Hyatt Brevik. During WWII, she worked in the Nalley's Cannery and later in the Tacoma shipyards as a welder's helper. At age 20, she returned to South Dakota and married Howard Pense. At the end of the war they purchased a farm in Gregory County and farmed for two years. They moved to Tacoma, Washington to raise a family at 54th and East L Street. Howard and Marjorie divorced in 1969, (Howard passed in 2008), then in 1975, she married Robert McCormick. Marge attended Southern State Normal College in Springfield, South Dakota, and taught in a rural one-room school house. Later, she completed a B.A. and teaching credential at Central Washington University. In Tacoma, she worked as a teacher's aide at Lister Elementary from 1966 to 1973, then taught first - third grades at Fawcett Elementary from 1974 to 1989. In retirement, she and sewing club friends produced unique, beautifully crocheted afghans and bedspreads for those she loved. Marge was a member of Trinity Lutheran Church in Parkland. Recently she knitted prayer shawls which were blessed and given to comfort those in need. She kept a warm, clean, and hospitable home. There family would come to spend nights, share meals, enjoy conversations, and receive words of wisdom and guidance. Marge led a full, productive life, and left a legacy of caring.
Those left behind to rejoice in her life and mourn her departure are husband: Robert McCormick; children: Marilyn (Pense) Hubert, CA; Greg and Joan Pense; Seburn and Vicki Pense, IL; Tony and Cassandra Pense; Curt and Cheryl Pense; Brad and Lori Pense; and foster daughter Carol Reyes, CA. Her surviving step-children are: Carol McCormick; Robert McCormick, Jr.; Marcia and Kevin Neal, OR; Richard and Barbara McCormick. All of us and her seventeen grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren will miss her nurturing love.
Join us at Mountain View's Valley Chapel, 4100 Steilacoom Blvd. SW, Lakewood, at 11:00 a.m., December 31, 2009.
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