March 5, 2003

Marjorie Fine

Marjorie was born in Harlem, New York, on April 7, 1906, on 113th Street between Lenox and 7th. Her mother, Miriam Kory, was born in Galveston, Texas, into a family of German Jewish descent with roots in Frankfurt, Germany, while her father, Jacob Samuelson, was believed to have come from Russia. Marjorie's father died when she was very young, and her mother died when she was 17, so she was largely raised by her grandmother Rosa Levi and an uncle who supported her throughout her early life. She was named for her grandfather, Mark Kory, whose grave she later visited in Galveston.

Marjorie married and lived in Memphis, Tennessee, until her husband died. The couple had planned to move to Dallas to be near their children, and after his death in 1957 she brought his body to Dallas, sold her Memphis home herself, and settled in Dallas as a widow. With little means, she went to work almost immediately, finding a job on her first day and later working in the couture department at Titche-Goettinger, a fine Dallas department store. Her days off were often spent helping care for her grandchildren, and she built friendships through her work and community.

After retiring at 83, Marjorie soon returned to service, volunteering at Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas for well over a decade and contributing thousands of hours, first in the gift shop and later in the medical staff office. She was honored for her work, including recognition in the Dallas Morning News in December 2002. She knitted dozens of blankets for the Vogel Alcove, attended Temple Emanuel and a Tuesday Bible class, took part in the Leisure Club, and faithfully visited her friend Minnie at Golden Acres. Her son Myron became a chief urologist at Baylor and her daughter Ann married a plastic surgeon; her granddaughter Aimee, a fundraiser in Baltimore, wrote a book celebrating Marjorie's life and family history. Marjorie was mother of two, grandmother of six, and great-grandmother of eleven.

Read Full Transcript