Marjorie Ellyn Gridley Pixley Overturf died on Wednesday, March 18, 2015 at the age of 90. She is survived by her daughter Darcy (Kent) Overturf, grandchildren Leila Erdmann, Jason (Victoria) Erdmann, and Jessica Erdmann, great grandchild Torian Bormett, niece Mary Reykdal, sister Sally Van Kleeck, and brothers David (Delcie) Sharpe and Benjamin Sharpe. Further survived by other relatives and friends.

She was the second daughter of Florence and Ben Gridley. They owned the Gridley farm that included a hill that the community used for sledding and skiing when the kids were young. Mrs. Gridley raised a large vegetable and flower garden.

Marge went to Lincoln Grade School and graduated from the local high school in 1942. Then graduated from Miss Brown’s School of Business in Milwaukee. She worked for the US Navy office for a year before going to the University of Wisconsin- Madison. While there, she along with other Wisconsin girls, were recruited to go to San Francisco to type for the US Army at Fort Mason.

While the war in the Pacific was going on, she met and married a sailor, L.B. Pixley. That lasted 3 ½ years until parted. She went by the game Gridley until she met and married Wayne Overturf. That lasted 58 years until he died in 2010. He had been in the Army for 3 ½ years.

Marge and Wayne had Darcy in 1954 and Wesley in 1958. Darcy is a veterinarian in Hillpoint, WI. Wesley died of ALS in 2006. Wes and Deb lived in a log house they built on Grandpa Gridley’s farm, next door to Marge and Wayne.

Marge and Wayne met at the Treasury Department office in Chicago and when it moved to Oconomowoc, she worked there until the first baby arrived. Later when that office moved out of town, Wayne spent 15 years at the Post Office in Oconomowoc. Then did custodial work at the United Methodist Church, and the Congregation Church until retirement. In the meantime, Marge worked over 25 years as a church secretary and later, 3 years as a front office clerk at the Lake Country Inn.

During those church years, she traveled extensively and really had the travel bug. For most of the trips she recruited the passengers, several University trips, and with Heifer Project to China; one with Global Board of Missions to Cambodia. On the trip to see the animals provided by HPI they took to Tibet too where they had Holstein cows mixed in their Yak herds. Through the U.M. Church she went to Cambodia, and on work camps to Mexico, Dominica, and in 2005 to India. The following are the destinations Alaska, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Cayman Islands, Cambodia, China, Costa Rica, Cozumel, Denmark, Dominica, Egypt, England, France, Germany, Greece, Haiti, Jamaica, Jordan, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Iran, Israel, Italy, and Yugoslavia. These included 6 cruises that took her to some of the countries listed above, which she loved.

Before the overseas travels, the family went camping all over Wisconsin, through the south, and up the east coast. During those years Marge took millinery, cake decorating, rose maling, sewing, tailoring, flower gardening, raising Siamese casts and Samoyed dogs. One busy lady.

Always active in the Methodist Church, she was a charter member of NSCS, later United Methodist Women (UMW) where she was President locally and vice president of Metro North UMW and other committees.

Some of the biggest thrills were the hot air balloon ride over the Serengeti in Africa with champagne breakfast at the end, the helicopter ride over the Isqusa Falls in Bolivia, an extended tour of Machu Picchu, helicopter ride in Alaska over the glaciers, holding a baby Lama in Bolivia, holding a half grown panda in China, a koala bear New Zealand, the pyramids and Sphinx in Egypt, going to Crete while at Greece, seeing Angkor Wat in Cambodia, visiting Petra on horseback, riding a horse up a mountain to the Good Samaritan clinic on a work camp with son and seven other Wisconsin Methodists, going on a work camp at an orphanage in India, watching the fairy penguins in the water and come home for the night, south of Melbourne, Australia, seeing the La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, Spain and sitting on a camel at the Great Wall of China.

Visitation will be held from 9 AM until the time of Funeral Service at 11 AM on Saturday, March 28, 2015 at Good Shepherd United Methodist Church, 800 Lake Drive, Oconomowoc, WI.