Birth date: Jun 22, 1928 Death date: Sep 12, 2011
Marion Claire Rogers Orton, 83, passed away September 12, 2011, at her home in Fayetteville, Arkansas. She was a member of First United Presbyterian Church of Fayetteville where she had been an active member for over 50 years. Sh Read Obituary
Dear Lisa: I remember you and your mother from the U of A's pre-school. You were such a beautiful intelligent child, and your mother was a lovely sweet lady. Your mother contributed greatly to her community, church, the U of A, and Fayetteville Public Schools. I know that you will miss her everyday as I miss my mother. Please accept my sympathy. Sincerely, Marilyn Fern Hubbard Dotson.
We were so sorry to be out of town for Marion's funeral. She was a treasure for FAyetteville and we will remember her with great joy. We spent a month with her with our family in China in 1988 and got to know her so much better.
Ann and Morriss
Marion was such a role model to me of how to put good, solid, well-researched public policy into action. I admired her tenacity and her courage, especially when she was an advocate for better water and a sustainable environment. I remember her informing our legislators of better policies and joining in intelligent conversations with them. On our long rides back and forth to Little Rock, I learned all about Marion and her family as well as how she accomplished so much. Thank you to her family for sharing her with our community and her friends. She is greatly missed.
Marion was a great inspiration to me, both as a teenager when she became mayor and led many forward-thinking causes in Fayetteville, and in recent years after moving back to town, as I learned more about her remarkable life and accomplishments over the decades. Having known Lisa, Ben and Bill growing up I feel for them and for Lori and the rest of Marion's extended family. Indeed, Marion made me feel a part of her extended family, as I know she did with so many around her! She leaves behind a legacy of service, devotion, faith, courage, adventurousness, and love that I will never forget!
I always loved Marion's contributions to the Theological Book Club where I first met her in 1994. She was a wise and thoughtful person; and when she led the group, Marion was good at getting all of us to talk and listen in new ways. I miss her smile and video camera. It blessed my life to get to know her.
Marion was a role model and a mentor for me from the mid-1970s on...She was an elected official and an environmentalist and a woman who could listen -- all things I strived to be when I was a 20-something. I so appreciated her and our connection.
We should erect a monument to this remarkable woman who didn't sit by, but got up and did the work the community needed to have done.
It is one thing to be a good person who does acts of kindness and steps foreward to provide leadership. But it is an entirely more significant life that encourages others to join in on the multitude of public activites and civic needs to contribute for the greater good. Marion was able to draw not only public support but public participation in getting things done. She did it by example and without coersion. She was an inspiration and will be greatly missed.
Lori, Billy, Lisa, Ben, and Families,
Among the many outstanding contributions of your parents to the Fayetteville community, I especially appreciated the supportive role they played in Fayetteville public education and Leverett School activities during your years of elementary education and my tenure at the school. Your mother will be greatly missed in our community and in our University Heights neighborhood.
Henrietta Holcomb
I felt it was a priviledge to know Marion for 55 years and to have enjoyed her company and to have have shared our interests. Here in Little Rock, I found her name among members of the Women's Emergency Committee honored at the Terry-Fletcher House. This can be added to her many contributions. My sympathy to family and friends! Jo
