And another passes away...

MARGE DEVRIES (1929-2011)


Marge DeVries passed away and went to be with her Lord on Friday, September 23, 2011. She was born Margie Lou Sherman, to Carl and Alberta Sherman, on August 16, 1929 in Brooklyn, Washington.

Because her father was a locomotive engineer for a local timber company, Marge grew up in the logging camps of Southwest Washington, where she made friends that lasted a lifetime.

In the 1940's her family moved to Seattle where Marge graduated from Roosevelt High School in 1947. In 1949 she joined her parents in Oak Harbor, Washington and met Peter DeVries, a young farmer, whom she married on December 8, 1950. Together, Pete and Marge raised a family of seven children, Timothy, Mark, Ryan, Stanley, Lewis, Wallace, and Andrea. In 1966 the family moved to LaConner.

Marge went back to school to study music after the youngest of the children was in school. She earned an AA degree from Skagit Valley College, and earned two bachelor's degrees in music and education from Western Washington University. She taught choral, band, and orchestra at Whatcom Middle School and Sehome High School and taught voice at Western Washington University in Bellingham. She was the Director of Music at the First Baptist Church in Mount Vernon, and also at the First Methodist Church in Santa Barbara, CA, where she and Peter lived for a short time. After retiring from public school teaching, Marge taught at the Sylvan Learning Center in Mount Vernon, and continued to teach private voice lessons.

After her family and friends, music was the great love of Marge's life. Among her hours she gave to charities, she volunteered for many years for the Tulip Festival Committee.

Marge was preceded in death by her parents, her husband Peter, and her son Lewis.

She is survived by her children, Timothy DeVries, Mark and Adele DeVries, Ryan and Nancy DeVries, Stanley DeVries, Wally and Kenna DeVries and Andrea DeVries; her sister, Lois; as well as 6 grandchildren; 5 great-grandchildren; many loving nieces and nephews; and many, many friends.

A memorial service to celebrate Marge's life will be held at the Kern Funeral Home in Mount Vernon, on Monday, October 3, 2011, at 1:00 pm.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you make a donation to Hospice Northwest, in Marge's name.
Published in Skagit Valley Herald Publishing Company on September 28, 2011