Marion Walser

WALSER, Marion Frances, 95, passed away peacefully at her home in Grants Pass, Oregon on Monday, July 31. A resident of Grants Pass for 39 years, and Santa Barbara, California for 25 years, Marion was born in Pasadena, California on May 4, 1922, the eldest child of Hugh and Minnie Auw. Her father was an investor and her mother a homemaker. She was raised in Pasadena along with brother Pierre, an attorney, and Hugh Jr., a Lutheran minister and missionary, both now deceased. Marion was a gifted pianist, organist, and piano teacher. At Pasadena Junior College (where she received her Associate in Arts degree in 1942), she was a soloist for the symphony orchestra. She also was accompanist for the PJC Euterpean Singers where she met the group's baritone, John Theodore Walser, whom she married on March 5, 1943 in Pasadena, and whose career in meteorology she went on to support during the next 35 years while raising their five children together. They lived in many places while her husband worked as a field meteorolgist, eventually settling in Goleta, California, a then-rural and unincorporated city on the outskirts of Santa Barbara. During her years in Goleta, Marion actively pursued her interest in music, serving as pianist, organist, and choir director at Goleta Presbyterian Church, Santa Barbara Presbyterian Church, and All Saints Episcopal Church. She studied pipe organ at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., and with Dr. Roger Nyquist at the University of California Santa Barbara, and she was a long-time member of the American Guild of Organists. In 1978, along with her eldest daughter Connie and four grandchildren, she relocated to Grants Pass, Oregon to live in a home on the Rogue River. She remained active in the lives of her children and grandchildren and traveled extensively with her daughter's business, Connie's Dolls & Co., well into her retirement years. She was a dedicated homemaker and gourmet cook, a spiritual seeker and avid reader. She loved the beach, gardening, and learning about natural remedies and health food. As a child of the depression and the daughter of an investor, she had a keen interest in the economy and was an avid bargain hunter. Into her 90's, she still enjoyed walks along the Rogue River with family and friends. She cared for others with warm, friendly, and genuine interest and was always willing to lend a helping hand. Despite experiencing increasingly severe physical disability in later years, she was uncomplaining and an encouragment to those around her. Marion was happiest in her home, garden, and spending time with friends and family. She will be greatly missed by those who survive her: children Geoffrey Walser of Denver, Colorado; Constance Derek, Denise Welch, and Dorothea Harvey of Grants Pass; Janet Lisenbee of Chico, California; as well as 9 grandchildren and 16 great grandchildren, many of whom live in Grants Pass.

Service Information

Saturday, August 5th, 2017 9:30am, Granite Hill Cemetery

Interment Details

Granite Hill Cemetery