Marjorie Childs

Marjorie Childs was born to Beatrice Maud Oram and Henry Edgar McBride in Rudry, Monmouthshire, South Wales in 1917.

In 1923 the family immigrated to Montreal, Canada, and then to Dundalk, Maryland. She grew up in Dundalk and attended Dundalk Elementary School. She graduated from Sparrows Point High School in 1933 and from Towson State Teacher’s College (now Towson University) in 1937. After college she did some graduate work in Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and Columbia University in New York.

From 1937 to 1946 she taught elementary grades in Jones Creek School. In 1942 she married James Oliver Childs. In 1946 she and James moved to Anderson, Indiana where they lived for eight years while he attended Anderson College and University. Two daughters, Eileen Barbara and Gwendolyn Jo, were born during their time in Anderson. Marjorie taught school in Anderson.

They moved to West Russell, Kentucky to pastor the Church of God (Anderson, Indiana). Marjorie worked with the youth and also taught 7th and 8th grades in public school. She wrote curriculum for the national church’s publishing house. She was a member of the state Board of Christian Education. A third daughter, Elizabeth Ann was born there.

They next moved to Norton, Virginia. The church there sponsored a daily kindergarten, which Marjorie directed. She also taught two summers of Head Start.

The move to Lincoln Park, Michigan, downriver from Detroit, came just after the riots, Marjorie worked with the youth and was involved in the music program. She did some substitute work in the Lincoln Park Schools and worked for the Michigan Department of Social Services.

After retirement in 1982 they moved further north to the village of Blanchard, Michigan. Marjorie volunteered for Hospice and Battered Women, and was involved in the Barryton Church’s music program.

In 1998 they moved to Uplands Retirement Village in Pleasant Hill, Tennessee. James died in 2001. Marjorie enjoyed many of the activities in the Village until she moved to Good Samaritan in Fairfield Glade in 2012.

Memorial Service will be held on Sunday, July 13, 2014 at United Church of Christ in Pleasant Hill as part of their morning service.

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