Marie Morgan Oser

On Friday, November 4, 2022, we lost the center of our family. Marie Oser was born on July 9, 1938, in Washington, D.C. She grew up in the mid-west in Kalamazoo, MI and Goshen, IN. She obtained her Bachelor’s Degree in History from the University of Michigan in 1960. While attending the University of Michigan, Marie converted to Catholicism and joined the Christian Family Movement which laid the foundation for her values, faith, and life’s work. In 1961, she married George Talbot Oser. Marie and George had three children, Margaret, Christine, and Ruthanne. They spent their first years of marriage in Ann Arbor, MI, then moved to Houston, TX in 1966.

Marie began working in 1960 as a high school history teacher. She settled into motherhood after her first child, Margaret, was born. After moving to Houston, TX, Marie’s faith called her to focus her energies not only on her family, but on bettering the lives of children and families. She began volunteering for various causes, including playing a significant role in her husband’s campaign and election to the Houston Independent School Board in the late ‘60s, which laid the foundations for the desegregation of Houston’s schools. In the early 1970’s, Marie went to work helping develop Head Start centers throughout Southeast Texas. In the mid-1970’s, she founded Child Care ’76, an advocacy organization focused on progressive policies supporting children and families. In the late ‘70’s, she formed the Texas Institute for Families, furthering her work supporting children and families with a focus on workplace policies in support of families. In 1980, Marie was appointed as the Executive Director for the White House Conference on Children and Youth by President Jimmy Carter. After moving back to Houston in 1981, Marie continued the Institute until the mid-1980’s, then spent the later part of her career as a consultant on early childhood and family policy and programs throughout Texas and the country.

Throughout Marie’s life, her family was the center of her world. She ensured all three of her daughters not only had the love and support they needed, but exposed them at young ages to activism, what it meant to be strong and independent women, and how to love deeply and unconditionally. Before Take Your Daughter to Work was a thing, she was taking her daughters to meetings, to the State legislature, and on the picket line. Marie was not a conventional mother for the time. She was a trailblazer and a force to be reckoned with - when it came to her family and for children and families across our state.

Marie’s greatest joy were her daughters and her four grandchildren. She was a doting grandmother, showering her grandchildren with love. She had a unique ability to connect with everyone on an individual basis, loving each for their unique qualities. She loved to help her grandchildren with their schoolwork, and she was often the subject of many of their assignments. She loved art, and in her retirement, she focused on watercolor paintings which she gifted to her daughters and shared that love with her grandchildren. She never missed one of her grandchildren’s performances, graduations, or sports games. Marie taught everyone she knew about strength of character, living your values, and loving without limits.

Marie is preceded in death by her father and mother, Carlos and Ruth Morgan, and her daughter, Christine Oser Morales. She is survived by her daughters, Margaret Oser and Ruthanne Greenwood, her four grandchildren, Sadie and Emma Greenwood and Nick and Maddie Morales, her sisters, Susie Sharp and Carole Mixon, and nephews Mike and Eric Sharp and Matt and Geoff Mixon.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.memorialoaksfunerals.com for the Oser family.