JONES – Marjorie E. (Fitch) 95 of West Yarmouth died peacefully in her sleep Wednesday January 30, 2019 at Mayflower Place in West Yarmouth.

Raised and educated in Lexington, Marjorie was the daughter of the late Frederick C. and Edith (Rice) Fitch. She treasured memories of her childhood in Lexington, including standing on the reviewing stand during Patriot’s Day parades with her Grampie William Amos Rice, a writer for the town paper. After graduating from Cambridge High and Latin School, Marjorie took evening courses in commercial illustration and worked in advertising agencies and as a freelance artist. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education at Boston University in 1949, and her Master’s in Educational Administration in 1964.

In 1947, she married Robert Payzant Jones, a BU classmate. Although they parted ways in 1961, she later referred to Bob as her best friend, rendering a moving eulogy at his funeral in 1990.

Marjorie began her public teaching career in Newton (1949-1964), where she was a pioneer of Special Education, developing programs and curricula for students with a wide range of mental, emotional, and learning disabilities. She moved to Norwalk, CT in 1964 and taught in the New Canaan public schools until her retirement in 1986, when she moved fulltime to what had been her summer home in Yarmouth Port. In 2008 she moved to Mayflower Place Nursing Center.

Aunt Marge was an avid punster and Scrabble player. She loved to travel, delighting her nephews and nieces with stories and souvenirs from her adventures. In her retirement years she took up her paint brushes again. Her dedication to self-improvement, as well as helping others, through education, set an example for the many relatives and friends whose lives she touched.

Marjorie was active in many volunteer organizations, including historical societies and the American Association of University Women. She was a docent of the Old Yarmouth Historical Society, and enjoyed donning period costume at the Captain Bangs Hallett House Museum to demonstrate antique kitchen appliances from her own collection. She loved to take visitors on nature walks and show them the Cape.

Marjorie was a member of Saint David’s Episcopal Church in South Yarmouth, where she lovingly did beautiful calligraphy for baptismal certificates.

She is survived by her brother Hilbert E. Fitch and his wife Jeane, of Burlington, MA, her step-brother Stanley Lapham and his wife Gail of Hampstead, NH; nephews and nieces David Allan Fitch, Warren F. Fitch, Leah Ryel, Jean Ranallo, Mildred Sarchioto, Delora Jones, and Edgar Jones; and numerous grand- and great-grand-nieces and -nephews. Her niece Gladys Jones predeceased her in 2005.

A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Friday March 15 in St. David’s Episcopal Church, 205 Old Main St., South Yarmouth.

Interment will follow in St. David’s Memorial Garden.

As an expression of sympathy, memorial donations may be made to Saint David’s Episcopal Church, 205 Old Main Street, South Yarmouth, MA 02664, or to Boston University School of Education, Planned Giving Office, 595 Commonwealth Avenue, Suite 700, Boston, MA 02215.

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