Marjorie Leverich Moran

Marjorie was born in New Orleans on January 12,1918 to Watts K. Leverich and Mary Campbell Leverich of New Orleans. She was the middle of three sisters, Marion Tebo Leverich Miller and Elaine Leverich Mears Collenberg. Marjorie attended McGehee School and Newcomb College for Women, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Fine Arts and was a member of Pi Beta Phi Sorority. After college she met Alfred Jay Moran. They married in 1941, moved to Washington D.C. at the beginning of World War II, and while Alfred worked for the United States Navy Admiralty Office, Marjorie worked at the National Red Cross Headquarters Missing Persons Bureau. There she helped locate missing members of U.S. based families trapped in war-torn Europe, establishing a theme that would carry throughout her life to comfort abandoned souls and to repair broken human stories.

After World War II, Alfred and Marjorie moved back to Louisiana, living briefly at Tranquility Plantation on Bayou Liberty, and then settling in New Orleans. In 1952 Marjorie and Alfred purchased and renovated the Corn Stalk Fence House in the Garden District, their home base for family life and civic social activity.

Marjorie was a member of the Junior League of Greater New Orleans, honored as a Lifetime Member and Sustainer of the Year in 1992. She was lifelong member of the Garden Clubs of America, New Orleans Town Gardeners, The Colonial Dames and according to her Cub Scouts, a World Class Cub Scout Den Mother, Den 5, Pack 29 of Trinity Episcopal Church. She was a professional interior designer between 1960 and 1970.

After her grown sons began to leave home, Marjorie focused her energies on her volunteer work. She became the first woman elected to the Vestry of Trinity Episcopal Church and was instrumental in building Trinity’s ground-breaking outreach infrastructure. She was a Founding Supporter of Neighbor to Neighbor, a family mentorship and support network; she was recruited by the inter-faith leadership of New Orleans to establish a coordinated structure for Faith-based Hospital Ministry. Under her leadership, the first coordinated Hospice Services was brought to the New Orleans healthcare system.

In 1987 Marjorie, representing Trinity, met with two Sisters of Charity who had settled in the Saint Thomas Housing Development to explore with resident leaders a way to provide primary healthcare services to the under-served resident community. Marjorie introduced herself to the Sisters of Charity and St. Thomas Residence Council with her signature question, “What can I do for you?” The Saint Thomas Health Services Clinic was born, the parent entity of what is now St. Thomas Community Health Center, a multi-facility healthcare system that successfully re-invented itself after Hurricane Katrina.

She was the Founding member of DOCC, Disciples of Christ in Community, now an international program of Bible study, forming Christian communities and outreach ministries. Marjorie was a Founding member of the Education for Ministry Program, EFM, which resulted in the collaboration of Trinity Church and The University of the South School of Theology at Sewanee to develop an international course of lay-Christian education, which is extensively used today.

Marjorie served on the Boards of Visiting Nurse Association, Stanton Manor, Gaudet Home, Gaudet Scholarship Fund, Irish Channel Action Foundation, Kingsley House, Hope House, St. Thomas Health Clinics and Trinity Episcopal School.

Wherever there was laughter and celebration, there was Marjorie. In her early life Marjorie was the Queen of Atlanteans and in her later life, the Queen of Mystic. Always adventurous, Marjorie loved to travel with her husband, Alfred, to Japan, Europe and countless times to Mexico, New York, Boston and beyond.

Above all, Marjorie was an amazing mother to her three boys, Alfred, Marsden, and Malcolm and a joy and inspiration to her grand-children and great-grandchildren. A person of deep and radiant Faith, her heart was always open to others – family, friends, and stranger alike.

Marjorie is survived by her sons, Alfred Jay Moran, Jr. and his wife, Sarah Elizabeth Oden; Marsden Leverich Moran and his wife, Vicki Gustini Moran and Malcolm Campbell Moran, and his wife, Elissa Forstmann Moran. She is survived by Lansing Simonds Moran, who always kept in loving contact with Marjorie.

Marjorie is survived by her Grand-Children including Marcail Virginia Moran Waskom and her husband Thomas Richard Waskom; Nicholas Alfred Moran and his wife Jessica Leone Moran; Mia Minter Moran and her husband Sebastian Diaz; Morgan Julius Moran; Jonathan Campbell Moran and his wife, Rachel Hanley Moran and Jeremy Joseph Moran and his wife, Cori Bray Moran.

She is survived by her Great Grand Children, Virginia Catherine Waskom, Thomas Campbell Waskom, Mayes Louis Moran, Wells Leo Moran, Felix Leo Diaz, Orly Anna Diaz, Perla Mia Diaz, Eleanor Hanley Moran and Campbell Avery Moran.

In her later years Marjorie was well cared for by Lambeth House. Without the loving care of Saint Anna’s staff, the isolation of the Covid pandemic would have been far more difficult. She also had a beautiful friendship with Joyce Jones, who accompanied Marjorie to her favorite lunch of Grilled Oysters at Drago’s. And special mention goes to Guardian Angel Hospice, who cared for Marjorie in her last weeks at Lambeth House.

If there was a reigning theme in Marjorie’s life, she would want us all to know that “family is God’s gift to us, and, if we are blessed with family, we should hold them close to our hearts with all our warmth, strength and ability”. Marjorie will forever shine as inspiration for a life well lived and well loved.

Memorial Services will be at 11:00 AM Saturday, March 18th, 2023 at Christ Church Cathedral on Saint Charles Avenue by the clergy of Trinity Episcopal Church. Visitation with Marjorie’s Family will be in the Sanctuary from 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM preceding the Memorial Service.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to The Lambeth House Foundation or to Trinity Episcopal Church, New Orleans.

To view and sign the online guestbook, please visit www.lakelawnmetairie.com