McCarty, Marjoria Mae Fry

Marjoria Mae Fry McCarty, 84, of Hiawatha, peacefully left this life on Wednesday July 17, 2013. A celebration of life will be held at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish, Hiawatha, at 5 p.m. Wednesday, July 31, with a visitation and light supper following the service at the church. Burial will be at a later date in the family plot at Strawberry Point Cemetery. Arrangements by Murdoch Funeral Home & Cremation Center, Marion.

Marjoria Mae Fry was born Nov. 16, 1928, to Harry William and Dorothy (Waring) Fry in Greeley, Iowa. Her family moved to Edgewood to farm. As a child she liked to ride horses, dance and play the accordion. She first got interested in science when she was following her father around on the farm. As a child, she had a great hatred for school, especially her 4th grade teacher. Since she spent most of her time scheming against her teacher, she neglected reading, writing, and spelling. In this way, she says she suffered greatly. She graduated from Edgewood High School in 1946. In college her passion was to become an archaeologist, but her teachers urged her to go into teaching. She thought it was an absurd idea since she'd hated school so much as a child, but became a teacher anyway, mostly because people rejected the idea of a woman archaeologist. Marjoria continued her education at Clarke College in Dubuque, working toward a degree in education. She taught in a rural one room country school and first grade in Arlington, Iowa from 1947-1952.

Marjoria met her husband, John W. McCarty (1929-1999) of Independence, son of Dale Michael (1900-1960) and Nellie (Carrier)(1899-1965) McCarty of Independence, and married him on Nov. 21, 1951, in Independence. Marjoria and John separated June 23, 1957. She then continued with her college at Upper Iowa University in Fayette, where she obtained her B.A. degree in education in 1959. During this period she and her two children, John William II (1952-1979) and Rebecca Darlene (1954-) lived in Strawberry Point, where she taught 5th grade until 1961. She moved to Cedar Rapids in 1961 and began teaching fifth and sixth grade science at Adams Elementary. She moved to Pierce Elementary starting in the 1968-1969 school term and taught that 5th grade class over at Kennedy High School because of the overcrowding at Pierce. She retired from Pierce in 1991.

Marjoria became involved in soil conservation when she served on science committees during her tenure in the Cedar Rapids Public School System. She was elected to a soil conservation board which went around helping companies with pollution problems. She also taught teachers about pollution, land management, and conservation. In 1979, she started a sanctuary at Pierce Elementary for the students and future students to be able to relive the prairie and to give the students a sense of ownership. In 1982, she was given the Iowa Soil Conservation Award. In 1984, she was named the Indian Creek Nature Center Environmental Educator of the Year, and in 1987, became a charter member of the Iowa Academy of Science in Elementary Science Teaching. “My objective in teaching is to make my students more aware of the nature around them that we take for granted,” Marjoria said.

In her retirement she continued to pursue her many interests, including volunteering in the school system at Indian Creek Nature Center and the Science Center both here in Cedar Rapids, traveling to Belize to scuba dive and see the coral reef, Australia, New Zealand, Alaska, and New Mexico to visit her daughter and her partner, Sue Long. Marjoria was a caregiver to her mother since 2004 until her passing last October at the age of 102.

She was preceded in death by her parents, and son, John William McCarty II.

Marjoria will be dearly missed by her daughter, Rebecca (Sue); several cousins; and close friends near and far.

In lieu of flowers that fade and die, a memorial fund has been established in Marjoria and John's name to create a sanctuary of land here in Iowa to become another learning center for all.

Our gratitude is extended to the Hospice of Mercy and Pro Care staff who took excellent care of Marjoria. Also to the home care assistant who continued on after Marjoria's mother had left the residence last year.

Please sign the online guest book for Marjoria at www.murdochfuneralhome.com under obituaries.

Published July 21, 2013 in The Gazette