Marjorie Benson Sullivan

Marjorie B. Sullivan, longtime resident of Sharon and Wareham, Massachusetts, died September 19th in Seattle, Washington, after a long illness. She was 89.

Marjorie spent her entire professional career helping people, working 50 years in the Brockton area. She spent 20 years at Head Start in Brockton, 12 as Director. From 1988 until her retirement in 2018, Marjorie was a psychotherapist at Shershow & Associates, Batchis & Associates, and Brockton Area Multi-Services, Inc. (BAMSI). In 2019, she moved to Seattle to be closer to family.

Born in Brockton in 1935, Marjorie Claire Benson was the youngest child of Ivar and Greta Benson, who owned Benson’s Bakery at 830 Main Street. She graduated from Brockton High School Class of ’52 and in 1956 earned a B.A. cum laude in sociology and psychology at Upsala College in East Orange, New Jersey.

Marjorie married David A. Sullivan, her high school sweetheart, in 1957. She received a Master of Social Service degree from Bryn Mawr College in 1958.

Over the next eight years, the Sullivans lived in Rock Island, Illinois, Pennock, Minnesota, and Morristown, New Jersey, before returning to Massachusetts in 1966, settling in Sharon. Marjorie was blessed with four boys whom she loved dearly.

Marjorie and David separated in 1973 and subsequently divorced. Marjorie raised four children as a single, working mom with the help of her mother. She was quietly but deeply proud of her sons and their accomplishments throughout their lives.

In 1991, Marjorie moved to Wareham into a house on Hamilton Beach that had been her parents’ summer home. She commuted 35 miles back and forth to work in Brockton for the next 27 years. The beach house and its environs were Marjorie’s favorite places, and she would live there for most of the rest of her life.

Marjorie was dedicated to her clients, and she considered them her extended family. In addition to her time at Head Start and as a psychotherapist, Marjorie worked early in her career as a child therapist and as a psychiatric social worker. On her resumé, she listed one of her hidden talents as “Turtle Training (no joke).”

Born in a bakery, Marjorie had a life-long sweet tooth. She liked to knit, sing, swim, and shop. She would often go into a grocery store for “a few things” and come out a long time later with a cartful. Marjorie loved to drive, tapping her fingers along her steering wheel as she did. She knew the backroads of southeastern Massachusetts better than any Google map ever will.

Marjorie enjoyed wearing mismatched earrings. She thought the weather was must-see TV – “Shush! The weathah is on!” she would say sternly in her strong South Shore accent. She was a fierce Scrabble player. Marjorie was inveterately late, always trying to do just one more thing before she left. She loved her tasks – “taawsks,” as she said – and always rued that her list each weekend was never fully crossed off.

The maker of a mean quahog chowder, Marjorie enjoyed cooking for family and friends. For her, food and love were inextricably intertwined. She would always stock up on her sons’ favorite foods whenever they visited. Marjorie loved Christmas. She hung snowmen around her living room year-round. She had ceramic holiday villages that could give any Christmas store a run for its money. Marjorie loved windchimes, and she loved gnomes. Marjorie adored her two grandchildren. She travelled to Wisconsin for their birthdays and for Christmas every year without fail.

Throughout her life, Marjorie referred to things that she couldn’t remember the names of as “the who.” “A well is a deep subject” was her favorite late-life joke whenever someone said “Well…” in conversation. It made her laugh every time. Marjorie advocated whistling to lower one’s blood pressure and anxiety. She loved to play solitaire. A lifelong night owl, Marjorie would frequently play the game late into the evening.

Like her mother before her, Marjorie was a stoic Swede who held her emotions close to the vest, but she could also flash a hot temper. Marjorie was more stubborn than any mule and stronger than the mightiest ox. Until the very end, she held hands with a Kung Fu grip that would make G.I. Joe proud. Marjorie liked to say “Cold hands, warm heart,” and surely her heart was full of warmth and love.

Marjorie was ever-proud to have met singer and actor Gene Autry as a child. Singing and music, particularly Autry's music, brought Marjorie an enormous amount of comfort at the end of her life, and she remembered the lyrics of songs from her childhood almost until the end.

Greatly loved, Marjorie will be forever missed by her family and friends. She is survived by her four sons, Stephen, Mark, Michael, and Sean; their wives, Kifflie, Elizabeth, Anna, and Annie; her grandchildren, Julie and Kendall; her best friend Linda Lundin’s daughters, whom she considered her own, Kim, Tracy, and Lisa; her caregiver Saba Solomon and family; and many nieces and nephews. Marjorie was preceded in death by her parents, her sisters, Desa Nelson and Hazel Chisholm, her former husband, David Sullivan, Linda Lundin, and Linda’s son Timmy.

Marjorie will be interred at Union Cemetery in Brockton. A private celebration of life will be held by family. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation in her name to SelfHelpInc.org or BAMSI.org. Marjorie spent her entire life serving the people that these organizations assist.