Marjorie B. Colson

Madison - Marjorie Brian Colson of Madison, Wisconsin, passed away on May 30, 2011, at the HospiceCare Center, Inc. in Fitchburg, with her family and friends nearby. She was 87. Marjorie, known to friends and family as Marjie, was born on Aug. 14, 1923 in Salem, Ohio, to Ruth and Harold Brian. The oldest of three daughters, she attended public schools in Salem as well as Wilson College in Chambersburg, Penn., and Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in English. While at Western Reserve, she met John Calvin Colson, of South Bend, Indiana. The two were married on Dec. 30, 1949, and on Sept. 10, 1951, Marjie gave birth to the first of their three children, John Brian Colson. The family lived for two years in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, then moved to Madison when John became a librarian for the State Historical Society and began work on his Ph.D. While living in Madison, Marjie gave birth to her two other children, Ruth Ann Colson in 1954, and Stuart Ernest Colson in 1956, and worked for several years at the Univ. of Wis. Survey Research Lab under Bud Sharp. During the 1950s and early 1960s, Marjie became active in a number of political campaigns and causes, including the ""Joe Must Go"" campaign in the early 1950s, to unseat former Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy; two efforts to unseat former incumbent Madison alderman Harold ""Babe"" Rohr; and volunteer work for the civil rights organization, Measure For Measure. The family lived for a year in Chicago, in 1960 and 1961, where John attended classes at the University of Chicago and both he and Marjie did volunteer work for the presidential candidacy of then-Sen. John F. Kennedy. In 1965 the family moved to Maryland, where Marjie worked for the U.S. Census Bureau in Suitland, Md. The family lived for a year in Aberystwyth, Wales, United Kingdom, in 1971 and 1972, and they traveled extensively in the U.K. and in Europe. Returning to Maryland, the family remained there until 1974, when John and Marjie moved to Chicago, and later to DeKalb, Illinois, to match changes in John's employment. The couple was divorced in 1978, and Marjie returned to Madison. She worked for the University of Michigan Survey Research Lab, and TelSam, a telephone surveying company. She returned to political activism and joined the local chapter of the Grey Panthers, was president of the Dane County S.O.S. Senior Council (2007). She was a driving force in the campaign to preserve Turville Point from development in 1990 and 1991. Marjie also volunteered for the Coalition for Health, working tirelessly to advocate for the adoption of a national single-payer health care system

Marjie is survived by her sister, Martha Fager (Harold); her three children, John (Anne) Colson, Ruth Colson and Stuart Colson; plus numerous cousins, nieces, nephews, and other relatives.

A celebration of life will be held at CRESS FUNERAL HOME, 3610 Speedway Road, Madison, on Saturday, June 4, 2011 at 1:00 p.m.