Marjorie Murphy Pittinger

It is with great sadness that we announce the death of our dear wife, mother, grammy, and aunt, Marjorie Kathleen Murphy Pittinger. She yielded to her five-year fight with cancer on August 28, 2023.

Margie was born in Frederick on October 9, 1947 and attended East Frederick Elementary School and West Frederick Junior High School, before graduating from Frederick High School in 1965. She held a B.S. in early childhood education from Towson University, awarded in 1970. She also pursued graduate study there.

Margie happily spent ten years with Mac as a Methodist “country minister’s” wife in Frederick and Baltimore Counties—an (unpaid) career in itself, no matter what else was going on--with its trials, sorrows, and many joys. She taught Sunday School and served as District Chairperson of the Baltimore Conference Board of Childcare.

Margie taught five years at Valley Elementary School in Jefferson where she and her colleagues Myralee Wiles and Penny Lord created an outstanding increase in first grade reading scores. After her own children were older, she served as a substitute teacher--a (low paid) career in itself no matter what else was going on--full of (mostly) fun.

She was the loving mother of Emily (now Kuster), Adrian, and Eleanor Pittinger, who together constituted the (first) lights of her life, and devoted fun grandmother, “Grammy,” of Kathleen, Jackson, and Jameson Kuster, the (second) lights of her life.

A life-long member of All Saints Episcopal Church (even through her Methodist interlude), Margie contributed her services to various committees, including the St. Mary’s Book Sale, taught three-year old and adult Sunday School classes, and served on the Vestry.

Margie was very active in the community when her children were young, working with the Valley Urbanites 4-H Club, serving as Cultural Arts Director for Waverley Elementary for many years, and served on the P.T.A.s of Waverley, West Frederick, and Frederick High School. She drove for Meals on Wheels for years and worked with Blessings in a Backpack. Margie was a Life Member of the Frederick Fair and attended for seventy-four years.

Margie was known for her needlework and her wide interests in life and the world, expressed in her (correct) philosophical and political opinions (compassionate and progressive Christianity and Democracy), membership in the Frederick Singers, and far-ranging reading.

Margie inspired and led all family vacations and day trips. She travelled throughout the eastern U.S. (Williamsburg!) from Maine to Florida and west across the Mississippi. She visited Europe numerous times. A devoted taphophile, Margie visited, appreciated, and photographed cemeteries large and small, rural and urban, foreign and domestic, throughout her life.

After her father’s death, Margie was the devoted and selfless companion of her mother Kathleen, providing her opportunities to shop, travel to see relatives, and participate in many day- and overnight trips.

Margie made life for her family and taught us all the meaning of love; Mac, for one, would have been a life-long blank page without her.

Margie was preceded in death by her parents, Charles and Kathleen Murphy, her brother, James Murphy and wife Sally, her sister Nancy Walker and husband Ed, her niece Carole Walker Potter, her in-laws Nelson and Ruth Pittinger, and many beloved aunts, uncles, and cousins (most recently Mary Alice Stup). In addition to her children and grandchildren, Margie is survived by her husband Nelson “Mac,” son-in-law Mike Kuster, a brother Dennis (Sandra), nieces Caroline (Dan) McAllister, Beth (Jay) Snover, Susan (George) Scola, Erin (John ) Long, nephews Lewis
(Rosemary) and John (Karla) Murphy, nephew-in-law Andy Potter (Robyn), and numerous great- nephews and nieces and their families as well as cousins, and a special goddaughter,
Elizabeth Plaine.

The family extends many thanks to all the nurses, caregivers, and volunteers at Kline Hospice House for their many kindnesses to Margie and to us. Those desiring to do so may make contributions in Margie’s name to the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts, the Hagerstown Municipal Band, Children of Incarcerated Parents, Blessings in a Backpack, or All Saints Episcopal Church.

Visitation will be held at Keeney and Basford Funeral Home from 4 to 7 p.m. on Friday September 1. Services will take place at All Saints Episcopal Church at 10:00 a.m. Saturday, September 2.