Marjorie Anne Mathieson

Marjorie Anne (Brinegar) Mathieson was born October 7, 1915 in Belvidere, Nebraska to John Thomas & Sarah (Bowen) Brinegar and passed from this life May 20, 2015 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Marjorie overcame many challenges in her ninety nine years. Her early life was spent on a farm outside of Belvidere Nebraska. The heating and cooking were provided by burning coal and corn cobs. She often commented that she never remembered being warm during a Nebraska winter. Her mother passed away when she was a young teen. An aunt arrived and announced that Marjorie and her sister would obviously have to move in with her. Marjorie’s father replied “This family stays together”. This determination was severely tested during the dust bowl years and subsequent depression. The Brinegar farm was so devastated that the family had to move to western Nebraska to live with relatives. With the return of economic stability the family returned to the farm in Belvidere. Marjorie said that their family bought the farm twice. Once before the crash and once after the crash.

Marjorie was a lifelong educator. She attended Belvidere High school always walking the two miles between the Brinegar farm and the school. She proudly remembered that she graduated as the Salutatorian of her class. She also wryly remembered that she lost the Valedictorian honor by less than one tenth of one point. After high school graduation the county doctor offered to pay her way through a local Junior College provided she worked in the hospital. So during the next years she studied English Literature during the mornings and emptied bedpans during the afternoon. Upon graduation she worked for two years in a one room school house with students from grades one through six. She often bragged that she got a twenty percent raise after her first year. Her pay was raised from $25 to $30.

During this time Marjorie met and married Raymond Mathieson. She then turned from the educational profession to the housewife profession. Devoting her time to her family she raised her three sons through their childhoods. Once her sons were all in school she returned to education. She completed her Bachelor’s degree at the University of Tulsa and was employed by Tulsa Public Schools. She taught third graders at Sequoyah Elementary School and then at Bates Elementary School. Bates Elementary was an experimental school. It did not have individual classrooms, only a large open space where all classes met. Marjorie said that she started in a one room school with eight students and forty years later ended in a one room school with two hundred students so it was time for her to retire.

Marjorie Mathieson, dedicated to her family, to education and to life. Marjorie Mathieson, the type of person the world needs most and will miss the most.

Marjorie was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Raymond Mathieson; her son, Robert J. Mathieson; and her sister, Joyce Johnson. She is survived by her sons, James R. Mathieson and Donald L. Mathieson; 4 grandchildren; 6 great grandchildren; and 2 great great grandchildren.

A funeral service will be held 2:00 p.m. Tuesday, May 26, 2015 at the Ninde Brookside Funeral Home Chapel with interment to follow at Memorial Park Cemetery.