Marjorie L. Gottsegen

Have you ever sailed across an ocean? Marjorie Loeb Gottsegen, who died on May 1st, crossed the Atlantic in 1989 with just her husband Arthur (deceased) and her nephew Lew on a 54-foot ketch. It took 6 weeks to reach Spain, and she celebrated her 50th birthday along the way in the Azores. While raising two boys Danny (deceased) and Paul, in the 1960’s, she was a regular on the local PBS station for a kids show called Let’s Tell a Story. She was an award-winning real estate agent in 1970s suburban NOLA, employing her natural charm and built-in smarts to make listing and selling a home seem effortless. Her name was on so many Stan Weber signs that Arthur and the boys renamed several streets ‘Margie Avenue’.

The fifth child of Julian and Eva Loeb (both deceased), born July 27, 1939 in New Orleans, her amazing life spanned 10 decades. As a child of the 1940’s she loved acting, riding horses and summer camp. She was a quintessential teenager in the 1950’s as a vivacious, cardigan-sweater-wearing, bursting with personality social dynamo. She was elected ‘sweetheart’ of the high-school fraternity Sigma Alpha Rho. Her older siblings Milton "Diddy" Loeb (wife Sharon - deceased), Honoré Allen (husband Byron - deceased), Janeth Mindell (husband Stan - deceased) and Marilyn Oelsner (Dr. Tom Oelsner) spent a lifetime enjoying the rays of sunshine from My Little Margie.

Margie and Arthur were one of the best all-time love stories. They started dating when she was 14 and he was 16 and were married just before she turned 20. They were inseparable and built a wonderful family and an extensive and close circle of friends with whom they thoroughly enjoyed the 1960s and 70s New Orleans social scene. They both became avid and expert sailors. Starting with The Mistress Margie (30 ft), then The Sweet Revenge (38 ft) and finally The Blue Guitar (54 ft), they hosted many of their friends and family to share in the wonderful adventures onboard. Margie’s buoyant personality shined at every anchorage in the Caribbean, the US eastern seaboard, and the western Mediterranean as she would swim around to all the other boats and quickly organize the next party.

Margie was a fabulous cook – one of her many specialties was bread pudding that melted in your mouth. But Margie loved eating food more than she loved cooking it. She believed that any menu is to be read with an early and intense focus and full discussion about every dessert – whether it was at the Howard Johnsons with the boys when Arthur traveled on business or in Paris. She never outwardly admitted her intense love of bacon and believed strongly that tapioca pudding helps calm your insides. She never passed up a chance to eat oysters – or anything that came from the sea - and loved a good cheeseburger – rare please. Her go-to snowball was half nectar, half chocolate, cream on both sides. And right before she would eat anything unhealthy – she would look at the rest of the table and say her mantra ‘I never do this but…….’

Anyone who knew her knows that if you wanted to celebrate an accomplishment, call Margie. For Paul it was every professional accomplishment and every hole of every golf game he ever played – no matter what the score. This was especially the type of Grandma she was, always delighting in everything her three grandkids did, while also happy to corrupt them with extra sweets, sometimes served while watching TV in bed when they were little. It was Claire who gave her the nickname Grammargie, which was as fun and funny as she was. All conversations with Joel, Claire or Leah began with, “Tell me all about it” and ended with belly laughs and claps and more belly laughs. And a loving mother-in-law with Wendy – always conspiring with her on gifts for Paul.

Margie was a student of fashion; she always dressed in style and knew the trends. She believed in the old adage ‘if you’ve got it – flaunt it.’ She never met a mirror that she didn’t make eye contact with and it was rare to see her without lipstick. Even Covid lockdown couldn’t keep her from finding a way to the beauty parlor and nail salon. When on a cruise a few years after Arthur passed away, the captain sent her flowers, which she had to quickly hide from several other interested parties, including her future second husband, Alberto Jaar (deceased). She had a fantastic second act with Alberto, spending much of many years in Santo Domingo, traveling and enjoying the house they bought together in Gatlinburg, TN.

The life of every party – she was never at a loss for words, and her New Orleans accent made her a crowd favorite wherever she went when she moved to New Jersey to be close to Paul and Wendy. Her normal level of enthusiasm on life was stuck on 11 – and her natural cheer rubbed off on the rest of us. We will aspire to pass it on.

Bye-Bye Miss American Pie

Graveside services will be held at 11:00 AM on Monday May 9th at Hebrew Rest Cemetery III, 2101 Frenchmen at Pelopidas St. New Orleans, LA.

In remembrance of her life, the family asks that any charitable donations be made to:

The Danny Gottsegen Enrichment Fund

New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA)

2800 Chartres Street

New Orleans, LA 70117

https://noccafoundation.org/