Marion Elizabeth Robbins

Marion Elizabeth (née Gordon) Robbins was born on September 23, 1948, to Marguerite and William Gordon in Beaver, Pennsylvania. She passed away peacefully on February 26, 2025, due to natural causes and with family at her side. Marion was 76 years old.

The eldest of four children, Marion was followed by a sister, Suzanne, and two brothers, Scott and Shad. When Marion was four, the family moved from Pennsylvania to Florida, where she spent the next two decades. Marion was an avid reader, a devoted student, and an inspirational big sister, serving as a role model in courage, conviction, and loyalty. In college, she majored in Spanish, which she spoke fluently throughout her life, and developed lasting friendships with classmates and instructors alike.

Marion moved to the Pacific Northwest in the 1970s. She drove across the country in an older Saab with her personal belongings, including a rocking chair and a cat named Ivan the Gray Mouser. Much of Marion’s work career was in administration, utilizing the organizational, managerial, and executive functioning skills common in an oldest child. Marion met James Robbins while working for the State Mental Health Division. After several years of friendship, a romance blossomed. Jim and Marion were married on December 18, 1976.

Marion and Jim had four daughters - Meagan, Ashley, Briana, and Elise. They raised their family in the Mt. Tabor neighborhood, where they lived for over four decades, developing life-long friendships and close ties. Marion was the first to welcome new neighbors and always had an open door for neighborhood children and friends. Many marveled about how Marion could raise four children while maintaining her vast range of hobbies and interests - reading, sewing, quilting, playing piano and flute, singing, attending live music and theatre, and socializing with her wide network of friends.

Marion was a beloved member of the St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church community for close to 40 years. In the early years, she taught Sunday School and co-led a children’s liturgy. She later took on the role of parish administrator, essentially the social and organizational hub of the church in the days before social media and publishing apps. She was outstanding in this position, bringing wit, wisdom, compassion, and strong organizational skills to her work. Her ease with Spanish made her a vital support to the church’s Spanish-language Misa congregants. A talented musician with a beautiful voice, Marion served as a leader in two church choirs as well as sang for Misa weddings and quinceañeras. For many years, Marion traveled the country to provide administrative support to the General Ordination Exams (GOEs) taken by seminarians. She retired from St. Michael's in 2008, but continued to help with proofing and editing parish communications until 2024.

Outside of work, Marion was dedicated to music and the arts. She sang for many years with ViVoce women's choir and the Christmas Revels, in addition to singing socially with friends. Marion loved music, especially choral and early works, and rarely missed a performance of Chanticleer, The Tallis Singers, In Mulieribus, and other groups that came through, or resided in, Portland.

Marion enjoyed travel, and she and Jim made many trips to Europe with their wine group friends, staying in idyllic settings and tasting vintages from small wineries. Marion was also a founding member of a book club started when her (now adult) children were in preschool. This group still gathers monthly to read and discuss a wide range of literature, sometimes meeting in Oregon, at the beach, mountains, or high desert; sometimes meeting further afield in Mexico or Nicaragua. But wherever they were, Marion would spend a part of her time on an outcropping overlooking water, just quietly being.

After raising four girls, Marion also spent many years helping to raise and shape her grandchildren, Kaia, Mason, Liam, and Izzie. Mamie, as the grandchildren know her, was a fun and adventurous grandma, always ready for an art project, a book, a walk, or a field trip, and bringing delight with her uncanny Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck impressions. In retirement, Marion found purpose and joy in continuing to nurture young children through volunteer work “holding babies” at the Salvation Army White Shield Center.

Marion was known, admired and loved for her quick wit, brilliant smile, intelligence, warmth, genuine curiosity in others, and superior grammatical knowledge. Marion was a very busy woman and managed to juggle things by following a Pennsylvania Dutch grandmother’s mantra, “Do now next thing.” She is deeply missed.

Marion is preceded in death by her parents, Marguerite Gordon and William Gordon, and her sister Suzanne Broertjes. She is survived by her husband James Robbins, her children Meagan Robbins, Ashley Snow, Briana Robbins, and Elise Robbins, her grandchildren Kaia Robbins, Mason Martinusen, William Snow, and Elizabeth Snow, and her brothers Scott Gordon and Shad Gordon.

A celebration of life will be held at St. Michael and All Angels Church, 1704 NE 43rd Ave, Portland, OR, on May 31, 2025, at 2:00 p.m. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Portland vocal ensemble In Mulieribus, a women’s ensemble dedicated to strengthening community through the art of music, whose concerts Marion never missed.