Marjory Manget Lyman died on Thursday, September 12, 2024 at the age of 90. She is survived by 5 children: Eugenie Lyman (Robert McLaren), Guy Lyman III, Kimberly Lyman, Christopher Lyman (Jen), Kevin Lyman (Jenny); 16 grandchildren and 5 great-grandchildren, three of whom are namesakes. She is also survived by her brother, Daniel T. Manget III. She was predeceased by her husband of 54 years, Guy C. Lyman, Jr.; two grandchildren; her mother and father, Mr. and Mrs. Daniel T. Manget, Jr., of New Orleans; and by two younger sisters, Stephanie Manget of El Salvador and Diane Manget of New Orleans.
Margie was born in Newnan, Georgia but raised in New Orleans. She was graduated from The Louise S. McGehee School, attended Sweetbriar College and was graduated from Newcomb College in 1956 with a degree in Political Science. She married her Guy at a ceremony at Rayne Memorial Methodist Church that same year. Aside from the duties as a good wife and mother of a family with five children, she entered many careers in her lifetime.
The first venture was as founder and owner of Happy House School, where she guided over a thousand children through a staff of highly qualified teachers. It was a unique preschool that was among the first to use the Montessori methods of “doing to learn." This school, which was open from 1957 to 1975, was responsible for the happy days and early education of many of our city’s prominent leaders today.
As her own children grew, she switched her attention from the very young to the very old to do volunteer work with the Junior League of New Orleans, Friends of the Cabildo and The Historic New Orleans Collection. She became a licensed guide and volunteered to conduct tours of many areas in the French Quarter.
As a result of this endeavor, she became a passionate defender of the unique culture and architecture of New Orleans. Through Building Watcher’s Tours, sponsored by the Junior League of New Orleans and the Friends of the Cabildo, she organized many tours of New Orleans’ older neighborhoods. After a trip to the New York Headquarters of the Junior League, she and her sister presented to the New Orleans League, its Board, and others in the city the idea of founding the Preservation Resource Center, sponsored by a three-year grant from the League. This organization was to gather together supporters of this nascent movement. An Historic Show House, sponsored by the League, was to further support this effort. Margie served on the PRC Executive Committee as its secretary during its establishment.
She encouraged Mrs. Margaret Lauer, who was then secretary to Mr. Louis Rousell, who had offices in the historic Factor’s Row, to purchase, at a foreclosure sale, the first of the then-blighted Julia Row buildings. Ms. Lauer then donated this derelict property to the PRC to renovate and use as its first office location. The reuse of this historic building was a spark to the appreciation and redevelopment of the New Orleans historic downtown, to the renewal of the now-vibrant Warehouse District and to the redevelopment of the Riverfront for the use of residents and visitors.
After her leadership on the PRC Executive Board, she became active in the Community Resource Partnership and focused on the revitalization of the Lower Garden District Riverfront and Public Housing Project improvements.
This effort led to her deep involvement in the redevelopment of the Magazine Street Corridor and eventually to the protection of the adjacent residential neighborhood of the Garden District. Her late husband was President of that association and she later received its Terry Parkerson Award for her efforts in that area.
During these years, she and her husband joyously raised their family with all the attending carpools, counseling and many other duties of parenthood. She renovated several houses, including a major renovation of their 1840s home in the Garden District, and served as hostess to many parties and benefits in their historic home.
She worked in an auction house and later opened a licensed antique business through which she imported and sold furniture from England by way of month-long shows and later through shops on Royal and Lafayette Streets.
In 1995, the couple retired to Monteagle, TN, where they resided some 15 years. Here, they both became deeply devoted to the appreciation and the preservation of the natural environment through development of their own property and their deep commitment to the South Cumberland State Park and the efforts of the Friends of South Cumberland to protect and expand this park.
After the unexpected death of her lifetime husband, companion, and supporter, Margie returned to the roots they had maintained in this city and to the shotgun house they had purchased in the Uptown area of her beloved New Orleans when they retired to Tennessee. From the vantage of age and place, she observed the tremendous changes this city has undergone since its boom days of the 1970s, through the darkest days of Katrina, until the changes - both good and bad - which have come to the city since. Her hope for the future lay in the great number of young people who have come to support the beliefs of their forbears who fought so hard to preserve what is unique and irreplaceable in this ever-changing world.
Relatives and friends are invited to attend a visitation at Lake Lawn Metairie Funeral Home, 5100 Pontchartrain Blvd in New Orleans, on Saturday, September 21, 2024 from 10 AM to 12 PM. Please feel free to join the family afterward for a gathering at the Uptown home of her eldest daughter to remember Margie (please reach out for details). Burial will be private.
Donations in her memory may be made to The Historic New Orleans Collection or the Louise S. McGehee School in New Orleans; or, for the preservation of the natural environment, to the Friends of South Cumberland, P.O. Box 816 Sewanee, TN 37375; or a charity of your choice.
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