Brown Funeral Home, 327 W. King St., P.O. Box 821, Martinsburg, WV 25402,
Phone 304-263-8896

Marjorie (Saunders) Holingbaugh, 91

Marjorie (Saunders) Holingbaugh went to be with our Lord on Sunday, July 13, 2014. Born April 5, 1923, in Llanelli, South Wales, Marjorie (also known as Marge, Mag, Nanny, and Mom) was a beloved mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and friend. She is predeceased by her husband, Richard Holingbaugh, and a son who died at childbirth.

Marjorie was always a proud Welshman at heart. She grew up in the small sea town of Llanelli in South Wales, where she lived with her grandmother, Annie James. She attended the Stebonheath Girls School until she was a teenager, when she emigrated from Wales to be reunited with her parents, Tom and Bessie Saunders, who had immigrated previously to Weirton, West Virginia. Marjorie graduated from Weir High School in Weirton, West Virginia, in 1942, and thereafter worked at Weirton Steel’s Tin Plate Sales Department for a number of years.

Marjorie married her beloved husband, Richard, on June 19, 1948. Marjorie gave birth to a set of twins in 1951, of which only her cherished daughter, Ann, survived. As a mother, homemaker, wife, grandmother, and friend, Marjorie was known for many things: her apple pies, her impeccably tailored clothing and fur coats, her paintings and her love of the arts, the parties that she hosted, her smart sense of humor and adventuresome spirit, her quilts and ceramic paintings, her perfectly wrapped gifts, her unrivaled Julia Child-like cooking, her flawless gardening skills, her many jet-setting trips to the “old country” and beyond, and her penchant for playing the horses (and winning).

Marjorie was also a terrific bridge player, and was a member of the same bridge club, the Glamour Girls, for over sixty years. She gave generously to many charities and was a proud member of the St. David’s Society of Pittsburgh for which she worked diligently to raise money to fund the Cathedral of Learning Welsh Room at the University of Pittsburgh.

Marjorie is survived by her darling Ann and her son-in-law Emory Helmick of Martinsburg, West Virginia; her grandson David Helmick and wife Crystal of Wyomissing, Pennsylvania; her granddaughter Sarah (Helmick) Hinkle and husband David of Martinsburg, West Virginia; four great-granddaughters, Dorothy and Lucy Hinkle and Stella and Lois Helmick; and numerous friends and extended family whose grieving hearts will deeply miss her spirited attitude and endearing presence. Marjorie’s family and friends take great joy in knowing that Marjorie knew the Lord, and that she will be greeted in heaven by her son, whom she never knew, and her loving husband, with whom she will dance again.

A memorial celebration will be held at Independent Bible Church in Hedgesville, West Virginia, on July 27, 2014, at 1:30 p.m. A private interment will take place at Union Cemetery in Steubenville, Ohio. May Marjorie’s memory be eternal.

Arrangements are by Brown Funeral Home, Martinsburg, WV