Born in Columbus, Ohio, Marge was the fourth child of Otto and Nora (Keefer) Sprouse. She attended St Joseph’s Parochial School, playing on the school’s basketball team. It was in Columbus that she met Donald Graeff of Osborn, MO while he was stationed at a nearby air force base. They married in 1954 in Perrin, MO and set up housekeeping on the farm near Osborn. During their marriage they were blessed with five children, and Marge worked hard raising them while helping her husband on the farm – in 1967, they received the “Farm of the Year” award from Successful Farming. Her children were always her priority. Her son, John, recalls, “When mom discovered that could not read in the 5th grade because I was dyslexic, she enrolled me in a special education program in a school 18 miles away. She drove six miles with me every morning to meet the bus, picked me up afterward, and then read my lessons to me every evening. Her efforts on my behalf had a profound effect on my life. My favorite thing about the whole situation was that mom spent a lot of time with me. Mom insisted that a disability like dyslexia does not have to disable you; anyone can learn how to live, love and be a success in life if we use the gifts God gave us. She was committed to her beliefs and set a good example for me to do the same.”
Marge and Don divorced in 1973, and she became a paralegal, a job she held until her retirement in 1995. She was employed by several Kansas City area law firms including Stinson, Morris, & Hecker. She married a second time in 1976 to George DeLapp and helped him to run a truck stop in Cameron, MO during the 1980s.
Marge was active in Clinton County politics for many years and loved attending Royals baseball games with her kids. She was also an avid genealogist, traveling far and wide throughout the state and county checking courthouse and church records as well as visiting cemeteries to gather information. She was quite computer literate, using both PCs and Macs, far advanced for her generation, and adored her grandchildren and Boston terriers.
Marge was preceded in death by her parents, two brothers George and Jack who died during WWII, her sister, Mary, and her loving husband, George DeLapp. She is survived by her sister, Eleanora (Ellie) Murphy, her children David and John Graeff, Becky Curtis, Judy Smiglewski, and Donna Graeff as well as numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
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