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It was a hot, muggy Saturday in July. July 24th to be exact. Back in 1920. A young couple was preparing for the birth of a baby. The midwife was summoned and the procedure began. Suddenly with a squall, Marjorie Miriam Hagan made her debut. She joined siblings Clinton, James, Gervin, Grady, Raleigh, Ruby, Mary and Madge. She was the 9th child and the 4th daughter of Joe and Nellie Hagan.
Eventually Etna, Louise, Kathryn, Betty and Freda joined the crew for a total of 14 children.
Marjorie had a mind of her own, a spirit of determination and a temperament to match her red hair. Birth order put her smack in the middle of things and in that household she found no time to be bored. Can you imagine the amount of laundry a family of 16 can generate? To say nothing of the cooking, dishwashing, making beds, and on and on and on.
And I might add that all of this was accomplished without electricity or running water most of those years.
Marjorie soon found school to be her solace; a place to live in a different world, a place to learn, to be listened to, a place to find her own identity. Up to this point not one of the Hagan kids had ever finished all 12 grades. Soon a couple of her teachers saw her determination and were very encouraging about her education. Support from these teachers and her mindset made her dream a reality
and at the proper time, she proudly walked down the aisle to claim her high school diploma.
Now she felt she could conquer the world and like most young people, the grass looked greener on the other side of the fence.
Her next goal was to go and find her own way in life. She soon found someone to "take her away" so she and he were married and that is how I came onto the scene. All too soon, the grass turned brown and dried up. Marjorie was learning a lot of life’s hard lessons.
Her first job was at Tommy Thompson’s Drugstore, in Hilliard, FL, then to Jacksonville's Merita Bakery, and The Southern Bell Telephone Company where she worked five years. If you are familiar with Lily Thomlin and her role as a telephone operator, then you can visualize
Marjorie in action at Southern Bell.
About that time WW2 started to wind down and a lot of the Military was coming home. What an exciting time for the entire country. She was introduced to a handsome young Sailor who was happy to be back on US soil and ready to get on with life.
He soon asked Marjorie for her hand and shortly after, the two said their "vows". That was back in 1946 and life was good.
They found a nice little home in Murray Hill and decided that was a good place to raise a family. This is where Cindy and Darnell came into the picture. The good life lasted for a while but not long enough and more of life’s difficult lessons took over, once more.
More hard work, more jobs, Winn-Dixie Headquarters, 12 years in Moving and Storage, Cecil Field switch board, more, more, more...... raising the girls…….. life going on…..
Accepting the situation, Marjorie moved on and with her Church family and friends made the most of life.
In 1988, she retired from the Government where she worked in telecommunications. Are you seeing the pattern? She has always had a thing about talking. In fact she loves talking to people and will strike up a conversation where ever she goes.
Marjorie could fill several books with her experiences but the main thing is she is still here to tell the story. She is still in that nice little home in Murray Hill. Been there for 63 years! As a matter of fact, she still owns the car that she bought in 1992 and she thinks it looks pretty doggone good because she’s always kept it in the garage. She's a real believer in taking care of things. That’s why she still has all of her teeth, except one!
After retiring, a desire to travel kept Marjorie happy as she went throughout the U. S. mainland and a bit of Canada. Then, all of a sudden one day she received a call from someone inviting her to the 80th Birthday Celebration of a long time friend and once neighbor by the name of Tom Jones. Now Tom and his wife Elsie had lived across the street from Margie when Lawnview Street was a dirt road and with every rainy season they would have to get out the row boats.
She and Elsie were best friends as well as best neighbors for a long time. They had shared many things as they raised their children together. Then the day came that Tom and Elsie moved to Atlanta and eventually Elsie, this dear, dear friend, went home to be with her Heavenly Father. So whenever Tom's son called to invite her to his Dad's birthday party, she could not turn down such request.
Well, by this time Tom had outlived a second wife and he was still not ready to live by himself so he decided to call Marjorie and just ask her if she might be looking for someone to share life with. They were married in Murray Hill Baptist Church, September 13, 1997, by Dr. Paul Wren. As a matter of fact, Murray Hill Baptist Church has been her Church Home for 62 years.
Marjorie and Tom will celebrate his 93rd birthday tomorrow and their 13th anniversary in 2 mos. They have shared many good times together and look forward to whatever comes their way. They have enjoyed traveling the US, Hawaii, the Pacific Northwest and then on to Alaska. Times have quieted down a bit now but they still have their Skipbo games with anyone they can entice into their card room. Of course, at this point you know the rest of the story.
Marjorie has reached another milestone in life by virtue of you being here today to celebrate her 90th birthday. She has now lived longer than any
of her siblings to date. God never keeps us on this earth a day, a minute, or a second longer than His great plan for us so it is not by accident that
we are here today. Praise God for allowing our Mom this honor.
By the way, she still loves to talk so if you are ever in the neighborhood, stop by for a chat or perhaps a game of Skipbo. If by chance you cannot find her, just look across the street. Don’t be surprised to see her in the yard of the vacant house over there, pulling weeds or trimming the crepe myrtle tree. " It’s a “well built little house” she'll tell you, and her friend “John Hulsberg built it”, only about 58 or 59years ago, and she just cannot
stand to look out her window and see that yard in disrepair!
Thank you and God bless you all for coming to help Mom celebrate life.
Pat Dixon ©
July 24th, 2010
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