Marjorie Scarborough 1918-2008 (With her 4 oldest grandkids- Steve, Meme holding me, Ginna, and Margaret in front.)
My grandmother, Marjorie Jean Mann Scarborough passed away on Saturday night. She was a strong woman, and even at 89, and having been ill awhile her passing seems a bit unexpected somehow. Maybe because hers is the first death in our family since my father I think, which was in 1977. (How fortunate we’ve been.) Meme was a great grandma and I looked forward to our Saturday phone calls or visits for a long time.She taught me so much about unexpected things. She loved to tell funny stories and poems or sing little ditties like her great-grandpa did.
“I’ll tell you a story about Annie Laurie
and now my story’s begun, I’ll tell you another about her brother and now my story is done.”
Meme could get anything she wanted out of life I think. I saw her talk us onto a nuclear sub onetime because my little brother wanted to see what it looked like. It was NOT a ship open to the public, but somehow she managed to get us on and we even got to look through the periscope to find our car. She made friends in every walk of life. She told me how she’d nursed in Vancouver on the docks- even helped prostitutes in the floating opium dens deliver their babies. She had friends in Panama that had houses on every continent, and friends who sold molas on the streets.

I’m grateful that I had her for a grandma, even if she did switch my legs a time or two. I’m grateful I got to hold her hand one last time (thank you Maradee.) I know she is on a wonderful journey now- “Going to Carolina” as she would have said.
I love you Meme.