Marjorie Olsen Cray
Passed away peacefully on January 18, 2015. Margie will be remembered for her radiant smile, her gracious manners, and her service to others.
Marjorie was born on September 9, 1924 in Passaic, New Jersey to Esther Cutting Olsen and Oscar Olsen. She attended grammar and secondary school at Passaic Collegiate, and then studied at Wellesley College from which she graduated in 1945, majoring in Sociology. Days later she married the love of her life, Gordon Cameron (“Cam”) Cray. Margie and Cam fell in love with California after moving to the Long Beach area where Cam was stationed before serving in the Pacific on an Army medical ship. During this time Margie attended the Graduate School of Social Work at the University of Southern California.
After the War, the couple moved to Hanover, New Hampshire for Cam to complete his undergraduate degree at Dartmouth College while Margie worked at the College’s Admissions Office. They next relocated to Brooklyn, New York, where Cam earned his medical doctorate degree from New York School of Medicine. During this time, Margie worked as a Psychiatric Social Worker at Brooklyn Hospital and attended the New York School of Social Work at Columbia University.
Margie and Cam returned to California in 1950, where they spent the rest of their lives, residing in San Jose, Palo Alto, and Los Altos Hills. Margie worked as a Case Worker for the Santa Clara County Welfare Department, and as Home Service Director for the Red Cross of California. Margie gave birth to her daughter Barbara Ann in 1954, and to her son Richard Cameron in 1956. While being a mother and consummate spouse, Margie was an active volunteer. She served on the Board and held leadership positions in The Women’s Auxiliary of the Santa Clara Medical Society. As a result of the premature death of her father when she was sixteen and her appreciation of scholarships awarded to her that enabled her to attend and graduate from Wellesley College, she organized and was Chairwoman of the Scholarship Committee that awarded scholarships to high school seniors interested in careers in medicine. She also served on the Board and the Scholarship Committee of what was then known as the West Bay Wellesley Club, was a math tutor in East Palo Alto, a reader at Recording for the Blind in Palo Alto, and a board member of the Mental Research Institute.
After Cam passed away in 1987, Margie worked for the Senior Center of Palo Alto, and provided day care for her only grandchild, John.
Margie is survived by her daughter Barbara Ann Cray and her grandson John Cameron Cray Molinari, both of San Carlos California, and her son Richard Cameron Cray of Beverly Hills, California.
A celebration of Margie’s life will be held at Valley Presbyterian Church in Portola Valley on Friday, February 6, 2015 at 11:00 a.m., followed by gathering at her daughter Barbara’s home.
If you wish to make a donation in Margie’s name, the family suggests: the Wellesley College Student Aid Society, 106 Central St. Wellesley, MA 02481, wellesley.edu/studentsaid; The Children’s Health Council of Palo Alto, California; or Barbara’s non-profit film project A Dog for Charlie, adogforcharlie.org.