Obituary: Estep, Marjorie Ann
Age 82
The family moved to Bremerton, Washington where her father went to work building ships for the Navy during World War II.
During that time, her only sibling, her brother Russell, was a Corpsman in the Navy.
He was taken prisoner by the Japanese in the Philippines and was killed in 1944 while being transported to Japan.
After the war, the family moved to Mabton.
She graduated from Mabton High School where she was captain of the tennis team.
After high school, she enlisted in the Navy and played on the basketball team.
There she met Norman Ray Estep, the love of her life, at Great Lakes Naval Base.
They were married on January 29th 1953.
While Norman was in the Marine Corps, they lived in Waukegan, Illinois, Jacksonville, North Carolina, Norfolk, Virginia and back to Waukegan, Illinois where he retired.
They had two children, Norman Russell (Russ) and Cindy Ann.
In 1960 they moved to Spokane to be closer to family.
They settled in the Garden Springs area where they enjoyed building a home together.
Norman grew a large garden, which kept Margie busy canning and freezing the bountiful harvest.
She was a wonderful cook and enjoyed entertaining friends and family.
Margie was a lifelong bowler at North Bowl in Spokane where she participated in many leagues and also instructed.
She won the Washington State Lady’s All-Star Championship in 1967.
She had many wonderful friends that she traveled with to tournaments, camping trips, and also enjoyed weekly poker games with.
Each summer, Margie and her friends would take their children camping on an annual camping trip and later carried on that tradition with their grandchildren.
All the children looked forward to those trips throughout the years and have many wonderful memories spent with the “Grandmas” and friends.
After retirement, Marge and Norm enjoyed traveling in their motorhome around the country.
They visited family back east in Ohio and New York.
They especially enjoyed fishing and clam digging, and wintering in the southwest and Texas Coast.
They adored their children and grandchildren and babysat every chance they could.
Margie was preceded in death by her parents, Clay and Alta Stewart, her brother Russell Stewart and her husband Norman.
She is survived by her son and daughter-in-law Russ and Linda Estep, her daughter Cynthia Estep; grandchildren Betsy and Christopher Gibson, Tracy and Ryan Ballard, Angela Raymond, Corrie and Jerome McClelland, Amanda Raymond; seven great-grandchildren, Kai and Kaylee Ballard, Jaylon, Jacobe and Josiah McClelland and Marjorie (Jori) Gibson.
A visitation will be held on Monday, October 20, 2014 at Heritage from 10:00AM to 5:00PM.
Services will be held Tuesday, October 21st at 1:30 at Heritage Funeral Home, 508 N. Government Way, Spokane, WA 99224.
In lieu of flowers, a donation in her honor can be made to the MS Society, Greater Northwest Chapter, 192 Nickerson Street, Ste.
100, Seattle, WA 98109, or online at Msnorthwest.org.