Marjorie Ellen Brown (Babbitt)

Marjorie Ellen Brown (Babbitt), 97, of Sedalia, MO passed peacefully on November 7, 2024. 

There will be a graveside service on Friday, November 22, at 11:00 a.m. in Pilot Grove, MO at the Pilot Grove City Cemetery.

Marjorie was born to Lester Fenton and Lena Mae Babbitt on March 30, 1927 and grew up on a 360-acre farm southeast of Pilot Grove, MO. Marjorie graduated from high school in Pilot Grove, MO in May 1944 and then attended business school in Sedalia, MO for most of two years. She took a job as a secretary for the Superintendent of Schools in Boonville, MO and then moved to Denver CO for a year. She returned to the Kansas City area and took dance instruction from Arthur Murray. She learned the foxtrot, jitterbug and waltz, the most popular dances at the time. During her tours of teaching dance lessons in central Missouri, she met her future husband, John ‘Bud’ Brown who lived in Sedalia. Dancing, including the polka, continued to be a mutual activity with “In the Mood” and “Moonlight Serenade” as a couple of their favorite songs.

Marjorie married John E. Brown on October 20, 1951, in Washington D.C. where John was stationed for basic training with the Air Force. While John was serving in Japan during the Korean War, Marjorie worked at the Rural Electric Association in Sedalia, and with the help of relatives, raised their first son, Tom. After John’s tour of service, he joined the Brown’s family business in Sedalia and Marjorie worked for the Social Security Administration until their second son, Jeff, was born in 1960.

Marjorie’s subsequent full time secretarial employment became part time when she started attending State Fair Community College in Sedalia. She graduated, at age 53, and then obtained a BS degree with an emphasis in learning disabilities, from Missouri Valley College in Marshall, MO. For a few years before retirement, she was finally able to live a child hood dream of being a teacher and taught in the Smithton School District. Her sons thought a teaching degree was appropriate as they often heard the sayings of Marjorie’s mother, “Can’t never did anything”, “You won’t learn any younger” and “This too shall pass”.

Even though she was raised as an only child on the farm during the Great Depression, she said she never felt lonely and usually found something to do. Her childhood memories included a life with her hard working and loving parents, being raised as a Methodist in a Catholic town, doing her farm chores, swimming in the Petite-Saline Creek, playing cards with her mother at night, liking her small playhouse outside which led to a make-believe store in the attic, practicing the piano, playing the clarinet (she especially liked playing the pep band songs an octave higher), her experiences at the nearby Ravenswood mansion, shooting baskets on the basketball goal that her dad made, throwing softballs against a wall, and her favorite – reading books while hiding from her mother in the corner of her bedroom with her pet cat, Kitty Tom. About her humble raising she said simply, “We didn’t know any better.”

Marjorie had a special interest in history and its preservation. She was secretary and board member for many years for Melita Day Nursery and Preschool in Sedalia. She served for 8 years with Sedalia Sorosis, and for 10 years with the daughters of the American Revolution (DAR). In 1991, her genealogy efforts were recognized by the DAR when she was accepted as a member. She also enjoyed organizing the history of the Broadway Methodist Church and that of her and her husband’s family. Some vacations were trips to historical locations such as the southern mansions and to Pearl Harbor. Geological history became an interest in 1979, when she was 51. She and her husband, Bud, joined a group of college students for a one-day hike down and a one-day hike up the Grand Canyon. 

Marjorie and Bud celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in 2001 before he passed in 2005. Marjorie stayed at their home and enjoyed playing cards with her friends, growing flowers, being with her kitties and reading. In January, 2021, she and Tiger, her kitty, moved to a memory care facility in Topeka, KS.

She is survived by son Tom (Patty), son Jeff (partner Nico Gray), 3 grandchildren Lindsey Brown, Nicole Brown and Eric Brown, 5 great grandchildren, Piper and Hadley Stewart, Olivia and Carter Ludwig and Brooklyn DeLancey, sister-in-law Cathy Smith and many nieces and nephews.

The staff of Homestead Assisted Living and Memory Care and Interim Hospice deserve a special thank-you. Their exceptional love and care provided Marjorie and Tiger much comfort.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to an animal shelter/organization of choice. 

Arrangements are entrusted into the care of Meisenheimer-Page-Dady Funeral Home, Pilot Grove, MO.