Marjorie Buckner

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Marjorie E. Pearce Buckner, 102, of Longmont, Colorado, formerly of Pleasant Hill, Missouri, was born Wednesday, January 11, 1905 in Pleasant Hill, the daughter of Dr. Gilbert D. and Minnie S. Pearce. She departed this life Saturday, December 29, 2007 at The Bridge Assisted Living Center in Longmont.

Marjorie spent most of her life in Pleasant Hill. She moved to Longmont in 2000 to be closer to her son and his wife. Previously, she had moved to the Foxwood Springs Living Center in Raymore, Missouri in 1979.

Marjorie attended the Pleasant Hill schools and studied music and art at Hardin College in Mexico, Missouri. She was employed by Emery, Bird Thayer, and subsequently by the Hall Brothers in Kansas City, where she helped to create the first Hallmark cards. She became a member of PEO in 1929.

Marjorie married John Thornton (Jack) Buckner in 1926 and spent her life in music, becoming the organist and director of the youth and senior choirs at Pleasant Hill United Methodist Church. Her many piano, organ and choir students carry on the tradition of music in Pleasant Hill. She also became a dental technician so that her father, Dr. Gilbert D. Pearce, might continue his practice through age 88.

Marjorie traveled to England in order to authenticate the Pearce genealogy, and in 1990 she authored a family history book recording her Grandfather's immigration to America, his 1850 journey along the Oregon Trail, his founding of the Pearce Hardware Store in Pleasant Hill and the family's history thereafter. (The book may be seen at the Pleasant Hill Museum.) She later became a world traveler, visiting and writing of her journeys to Alaska, Hawaii, Europe, Scandinavia, Egypt, China, Japan, Korea and the Holy Lands.

She was a founding member of the Cass County and Pleasant Hill Historical Societies, and suggested the establishment of the Pleasant Hill Museum as a Bicentennial project. For some years, she authored a periodic newsletter for the Historical Society, and was an historian for the Methodist Church in Pleasant Hill, where she wrote the first comprehensive history of the church. She also published the first records of Cass County, and wrote and compiled the Records and Plat Plan of the Pleasant Hill Cemetery. As a family genealogist, she did Missouri records research for a number of clients, and was able to trace the Pearce family back nearly to the court of Charles I of England.

Marjorie was preceded in death by her parents and husband.

She is survived by her son, John Richard Pearce Buckner, and daughter-in-law, Sue M. Buckner, of Estes Park, Colorado, four grandsons and five great-grandchildren.

Funeral services were held Saturday, January 5, 2008, at the Pleasant Hill United Methodist Church. Pastor Carl Knapp officiated. Burial was in the Pleasant Hill Cemetery.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Pleasant Hill Historical Society Building Fund and may be sent in care of the funeral home.