Marjorie Elliott (Lawrence) Runge, age 86, passed away on Saturday, September 21 at Caribbean Breeze Assisted Living in Huntingtown, MD.

Marge was born in Harrisonburg, VA on May 21, 1938, the daughter of John Cheney and Frances Elliott (Merrick) Lawrence and older sister of David P. Lawrence. She grew up in Brimfield, MA, Leavenworth, KS, Woburn, MA, and Eureka, IL, graduating from Eureka High School in 1956 and Beloit College, WI in 1960.

In 1960 she married Philip Spalding Runge while he was on leave while serving in the US Navy. She moved with Phil to Pocatello, Idaho where he was stationed at the Navy’s fledgling nuclear facility. Her first child, Sharon Elliott, was born in Pocatello. When Phil shipped out she returned to Illinois with Sharon to complete a Master’s in Library Science at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. When Phil returned they moved to Norfolk, then she and Sharon decamped to her parent’s beloved summer cottage in East Blue Hill, ME while Phil was at sea.

When Phil left the Navy in 1964, they moved to Madison, WI, where Marge found work at the University Library and Phil finished his undergraduate degree. Her son Steven Carl was born there in 1965. She raised her children through moves to Croton-on-Hudson, NY, and then Springfield, VA where they settled permanently in 1971.

In Virginia she volunteered at the local PTA, League of Women Voters, and the library at the Woodburn Mental Health Center, and enjoyed gardening and taking her children to the many historic houses and museums in the area. She returned for a second library degree at Catholic University in 1978, then returned to work part-time as a librarian for Coop America in Washington, DC, then in the mid 1980’s started full time as an acquisitions librarian at Marymount University’s Reinsch Library in Arlington, VA. She worked there until her retirement in 2002, then divided her time between gardening, volunteering at the Lifetime Learning Institute at Northern Virginia Community College, whose travel programs she and Phil enjoyed, visiting with children & grandchildren, and participating wholeheartedly at Accotink Unitarian Universalist Church, especially the choir.

She is survived by her husband, Phil, now of Huntingtown, MD; her daughter Sharon Elliott (John Balano) Runge and daughters Amalia Elliott (James William Bellows) Castonguay and Shaina Joelle Castonguay by her first husband, Scott Castonguay; her son Steven Carl (Mary Whitney Kelting) and daughter Dorothea Read Runge; her brother David P. Lawrence, and many nieces, nephews, and grand-nieces and nephews.

A memorial service will be held at Accotink Unitarian Universalist Church in Burke, VA on Saturday, November 16 at 3pm, with a modest reception following. Click here to view the livestream via Zoom.

Memorial gifts in lieu of flowers may be made to The Nature Conservancy, or The Indian Land Tenure Foundation’s Beyond Land Acknowledgement Fund