Marjorie (Marge) L. O’Rorke died on February 23. 2021. She was born November 23, 1923, in Decatur, Indiana, to Carol and Clarence Lehman of Berne, Indiana. In 1925 her family moved to Columbus, Ohio, where her father earned a PhD at Ohio State University. They moved to Geneseo, NY, where her dad was on the faculty of Geneseo State Normal School. She attended eight years of elementary school, and high school for two years in Geneseo. Her father became president of Potsdam State Teachers’ College, so she completed high school in Potsdam and went on to graduate from Oberlin College in Oberlin Ohio, with a BA in history in 1945.
She then joined the last class of the United States Cadet Nurse Corps and attended Yale University School of Nursing, graduating in 1948. Her father died in 1945, and her mother moved back to Geneseo.
She nursed in several medical centers and hospitals as an instructor, head nurse, and supervisor. While nursing at the University of Rochester medical center she met her husband, Joseph C. O’Rorke. They married January 29, 1955. In 1958, when Joe decided to attend law school at Duke University, they moved to Durham, NC. While he was at school, she nursed at Duke Hospital as a supervisor in the surgical service. Meanwhile her mother had remarried and moved to Ohio. Marge had four stepbrothers. She and Joe enjoyed visiting over the years.
Upon Joe’s graduation, they moved to New Bern for a year, where he clerked for Judge Larkins. After that they moved to Raleigh, where they spent the rest of their lives. Marge was active in nursing, serving as the nurse on a USPH research grant at Duke Hospital in a multidisciplinary study of unit management for several years (1964-1969) and also on the North Carolina Board of Directors of the National League of Nursing.
She joined Hudson Memorial Presbyterian Church, where she served as elder, deacon, and president of the Women’s Club. In the community she was a board member of Capitol Towers, a docent at Mordecai House, a member of the Garden Club of Raleigh, and a board member of the Wake County Historical Society.
For forty-plus years, she was a volunteer at Dorthea Dix State Hospital, and she served on the Dorthea Dix Volunteer Service Board. Becoming interested in the history of the hospital and changes in treatment of the mentally ill, she researched and wrote the history of the Dorothea Dix Hospital. It took 18 or so years and it became a book, “Haven on the Hill”, published by the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources. When the hospital was set to be closed, she served on the board of Dix Park from 2004 to 2012. After Dix Park became a reality, she served as a consultant on the Legacy Committee of the Conservancy of Dix Park. In 2019, she was a recipient of the Raleigh Hall of Fame.
She enjoyed reading, traveling, gardening, and playing bridge and Rummy Kubs. She moved to Springmoor Retirement Community in 2010. She was predeceased by her parents and her husband.
A Memorial Service will be Monday, March 8, 2021 at 3:00PM at Hudson Memorial Presbyterian Church, 4921 Six Forks Rd., Raleigh NC 27609. Currently, due to COVID restrictions, the crowd size is limited to 30 people. Please register through the link if you plan to attend (https://hpmc.brushfire.com/worship/497631) The service will be live streamed through the Brown Wynne facebook page.
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