Marjorie Elizabeth (Farrington) Wheeler
Marriages
Orell Wheeler - July 1, 1949
Obituaries
Steamboat Pilot and Today - December 31, 2011
Marjorie Elizabeth Wheeler died Dec. 24, 2011, at Hilltop Lodge in Beloit, Kan. She was 85.
Marjorie was born Nov. 16, 1926, in a cabin that rested in the shadows of the Flat Tops near Toponas. She was the first of three children born to Mary and Kenneth Farrington. The first weeks of her life were spent in the bread-warming box above the wood-burning cook stove. Marjorie was raised a ranch girl, moving cattle by horseback and feeding in the winter months with a team-drawn hay sled. For recreation, she explored the mountains by horseback, read books, snow-skied and gardened.
Marjorie met Orell Wheeler, 16 years her senior, at a country dance. Orell was the only guy with a car, so he could take all the girls to the dances. They were married July 1, 1949. To this union, they each brought a child from previous marriages. Orell’s daughter, Dolores, was 12, and Marjorie had a 2-year-old daughter, Penny. Soon after their wedding, two nieces, ages 13 and 14, came to live with them. Marjorie was 22 years old, newly married and already raising a toddler and three teenagers. So began her lifelong passion of caring for children.
Marjorie and Orell had two daughters of their own, Deborah and Jacque. When Jacque was 6, they became a licensed foster group home for mostly teenagers. They took in children from 1961 to 2002, when Marjorie was 76 years old and Orell already had gone to be with the Lord. Out of the many numerous children they raised, including nieces, nephews and grandchildren, they adopted three children, Terrance, Dan and Patricia.
Marjorie lived on a working cattle ranch with Orell in the Steamboat Springs area. In 1978, they moved to a small place outside Jewell, Kan., to live closer to the oldest daughter and her children. The foster children came with them from Colorado, and they continued to take in children from Kansas. Marjorie lived in the country and loved all animals but especially cats and dogs. For extra money in her later years, she raised registered cats and dogs, having up to 50 breeding cats at one time.
After Orell passed away, Marjorie continued to lead Bible studies and worked as the librarian for a while until her health failed in 2006.
Marjorie is preceded in death by a daughter, Dolores.
She is survived by six children; 21 grandchildren; 25 great-grandchildren; and nine great-great-grandchildren.
Graveside services will be in Yampa at a later date.
