Marjorie Goodson Blackstock

Marjorie Goodson Blackstock died at home in Austin, Texas, on December 8, 2019, surrounded by family members. She was born to Silas and Mary Goodson on October 2, 1932, in rural Clark County, Ohio, and grew up in Springfield, Ohio. She graduated from Springfield High School in 1950. In 1954 she graduated from Miami University (Ohio), where classes in Spanish began her lifelong love of the language.

While teaching at Fairborn High School near Dayton in the fall of 1954, she met (then 2d Lt) David Blackstock, a native Texan stationed at nearby Wright-Patterson AFB. They married June 19, 1955, and a year later moved to Watertown, Massachusetts, where son Silas and daughter Susan were born. Two more sons, Stephen and Peter, arrived during the 1960s when the family lived in Penfield, N.Y., a suburb of Rochester. The Penfield period was marked by strong neighborhood friendships and several cherished summer vacations at Oven Point on Long Lake in the Adirondacks.

Soon after a 1969 move to David’s hometown of Austin, Marjorie began teaching in the Austin Independent School District, first as a substitute and then for 20 years as Spanish teacher at McCallum High School. She retired in 1993, having helped countless students prepare for college and taking some of them on trips to Mexico and Spain. She also accompanied David on many of his professional trips to England, France, Spain, Hawaii, and numerous cities in the continental United States.

After retirement, Marjorie became more active in the University Ladies Club, which she’d joined in 1970. She served as its president in 1998-99. In 2004-05 she was president of the UT Faculty Wives Club. Marjorie and David returned to Rochester, N.Y., for summers nearly every year from 1987 to 2016, reconnecting with dear friends and making new ones.

The 2005 celebration of their 50th anniversary, with 16 family members attending, was held in the Adirondacks. A subsequent family gathering in Colorado celebrated their 61st anniversary in 2016. Marjorie’s favorite activities included playing bridge with friends and swimming at Crenshaw Athletic Club. Medical problems limited Marjorie’s activities during her last two years, but she had a memorable last Thanksgiving with her husband, all of her children, and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Marjorie was preceded in death by mother Mary Goodson (1988) father Silas Goodson (1995) and sister Joanne Binkley (2013). Survivors include husband David, son and daughter-in-law Silas and Brenda, daughter Susan, son and daughter-in-law Stephen and Tamara, son and daughter-in-law Peter and Lisa, six grandchildren, five great-grandchildren, and numerous cousins, nieces, and nephews.

A memorial service will be held at 3 pm Thursday, December 19, at Weed-Corley-Fish Funeral Home, 3125 N. Lamar Blvd., followed by a reception. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the University Ladies Club Scholarship Program or to the charity of your choice.