Margie Johnson Lloyd

On September 5, 2025, MARGIE JOHNSON LLOYD, age 99, passed away peacefully in her apartment home, with her family present. Margie was married to Wayne Barnes Lloyd for 69 years until his passing in 2017. Margie and Wayne’s two children, Nancy Lloyd Miller and Barry Wayne Lloyd, have cared for her attentively and will miss her dearly. Also surviving Margie are Nancy’s husband Nicholas, Barry’s partner Deena, two beloved grandchildren Douglas Lloyd Miller and Diana Valentine Daub, Diana’s husband Tobias, and three precious great-grandchildren Oliver, Felix, and Fiona Daub. Margie’s only sibling, Morris Carlene Johnson, passed away in 1978.

Margie was born in rural Georgiana, Alabama, in 1926 to Walter Eugene Johnson, a railroad worker, and Bessie Kelly Johnson, a homemaker. Margie was just six years old when her father died unexpectedly from a stroke—a tragic event with a major impact on her life. Margie attended small rural schools, where she excelled and skipped at least one grade. During high school in Century, Florida, she was lively, well-liked and particularly enjoyed singing in the glee club. She was chosen for solos and duets. After graduating in 1943, she worked as a secretary at a lumber company and an insurance firm. While living in Pensacola, Florida, she met Wayne Lloyd, two years her junior, in her Methodist Youth Fellowship group. The two married in 1948, forging an extremely strong bond of shared values and affection.

Margie supported Wayne through the completion of his undergraduate degree at the University of Florida, which involved living in rustic married student housing referred to as “gator huts.” When he graduated, the couple moved to Baltimore for Wayne to begin his professional career as a mechanical engineer. Their children were born in 1952 and 1956, and they bought their Catonsville home in 1955, where the family lived for more than 60 years. In Maryland Margie started to be called Marge, which was OK with her. During these years Margie was an active member of Arbutus Methodist Church, teaching Sunday School, participating in service activities, and cooking for church fellowship events. Her other interests included garden club and sewing stylish clothing for her family.

She returned to work in 1962, when the whole family spent a year living in Gainesville while Wayne completed a master’s degree at the University of Florida. After returning to Catonsville, Margie had a long career working for educational institutions, including Catonsville Community College, Catonsville High School, and Lansdowne High School. She retired from LHS in 1988. In the 1990’s the retired empty-nest couple moved to Florida full-time, year-round for five years to care for Wayne’s mother who had serious medical issues. During these five amazing years of service, Margie was tireless and just as devoted to her mother-in-law as she had been to her own mother. And the feeling was mutual.

Soon after returning again to Catonsville, Margie and Wayne joyously celebrated their milestone fiftieth wedding anniversary with family and friends in 1998. During the next phase of their retirement, they enjoyed a more relaxed pace of life, reveling in time with grandchildren, daily crosswords and anagrams, gaining computer skills, and attending church events. Although in earlier years they made “big” trips to the western US, Hawaii, and Alaska, beginning in the 2000’s their biggest trip was an annual extended visit to Pensacola. Margie pursued her passion for family connection and family history on these trips. She began speaking regularly at the annual Kelly Family Reunion telling stories and highlighting facts about all the many descendants in her mother’s very full family tree. Her talks were popular, and she continued them up through 2019.

When Wayne passed away, Margie moved to Brightview Rolling Hills Senior Community in Catonsville, where she made friends readily, weathered the pandemic, attended exercise classes, concerts, and cooking demonstrations. She was amazingly mentally sharp and independent, still paying her bills, preparing her tax materials, and driving herself to church well into her 90’s.

Just after her 96th birthday she began to have a series of medical crises requiring hospitalization, each of which left her somewhat less able and in need of more help. And that support was provided by family and Brightview, joined by Gilchrist hospice during her final bout with congestive heart failure. Through all this, her basic outlook and personality were still there. Even two days before her passing, she was sitting up in her recliner and commenting on a variety of topics, asking questions, and participating in life, even joking with the kind Brightview staff.

Margie was loved by practically everyone who knew her. She was energetic, kind, a can-do person, a perfectionist, a lifelong learner, and fun to be around. She encountered some considerable obstacles in her life, but she was never cynical or bitter. She was a talented cook in the southern style; she made a strawberry cake that was beyond delicious. She was a thoughtful Christian who put her faith into practical acts every day. She was a wonderful mother, grandmother and recently became a wonderful great-grandmother. She was always delighted to see us, and we felt the same about her.

The family welcomes your memories of our dear mother. In lieu of flowers, we request that you consider donating to the Gilchrist Hospice (gilchristcares.org).