Marjorie Marge Ann Beers Burns

Graveside services were held at 12:30 p.m. Friday, March 9, at Sunset Hills Memorial Park, 1215 145th Place S.E., Bellevue.

Marjorie was born Nov. 1, 1926, in Verona, Pa., to Harold Simpson Beers and Margaret Dorothy Eicher Beers. She married Francis Edward Burns (Frank) on Aug. 20, 1949, in Cleveland. Marjorie (Marge) and her husband Frank lived in Rocky River, Parma, and Cleveland, Ohio, prior to moving to Bellevue in 1955. Marge moved to Olympia in 2007.

Marge & Frank led community efforts to establish a public library in the Lake Hills area of Bellevue, and Marge was active in Friends of the Library and PTA organizations.

She was a member of the Washington Library Association for more than 20 years, and supported the Salvation Army by sewing outfits for the dolls that were distributed annually during the organization’s Toy & Joy Shop.

Marge worked in the Cleveland Public Library’s Judd Fund Division, distributing books to shut-ins at home and in hospitals and institutions; the Seattle Public Library’s Children’s Department; and then supervised the Seattle Public Library’s Mobile Services Department (community bookmobile stops, service to retirement homes, individuals in care facilities and homebound patrons). She wrote and received a large federal grant to establish the Handicapped Elderly Library Project (HELP).

In her spare time she enjoyed reading, collecting Hummel figurines, walking along coastal beaches and watching the Mariners play. She traveled to Arizona several times to attend baseball's Spring Training. Marge undertook several sewing projects, ranging from wedding gowns for two of her daughters to "Gramma jammies" for her grandsons. She liked to explore new places and journeyed to Nova Scotia in her small RV and traveled the length of the Mississippi River with friends.

Her family remembers her enjoying to inspire children to love books — the books that she gave as presents are still treasured by the families; generously helping people; having a delightful sense of humor; courageously facing adversity; loving unconditionally; and teaching through example.

Marge is survived by daughters Virginia Burns and her partner Elaine Holster, of Olympia; Mary Nichols and her husband Michael, of Bellevue; and Nancy Gross and her husband Raymond, of Poway, Calif.; and her daughter-in-law Rita Ticen Burns, of Olalla, WA. She is also survived by six grandchildren; four great-grandchildren; her brother Harold Simpson Beers, Jr. and his wife Terry, of San Jose, Calif.; her brother-in-law Asbjorn Berg, of Seattle; and several nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her husband Frank Edward Burns; son Timothy James Burns; parents Harold Simpson Beers and Margaret Dorothy Eicher Beers; and sister Virginia Berg.

Memorial donations can be made to the Alzheimer’s Association, Western and Central Washington State Chapter,100 W. Harrison St., N200, Seattle, WA 98119.

Arrangements were under the direction of Sunset Hills Funeral Home, Bellevue, WA.