Margaret Evelyn (St. John) Layman passed away to meet the Lord on July 10, 2023. Margie as she was known to family and friends, leaves behind her husband of nearly seventy years, Richard P. Layman; three sons, Lawrence Layman, Thomas (Rose) Layman and Steven (Mary Ann) Layman; seven grandchildren, Kyle (Pam) Layman, Louise Layman, Claire (Eric Kridle) Layman, Bruce Layman, Tom Layman, Calvin (Amanda) Layman, and Jack Layman; three great-grandchildren, Christopher Layman, Alison Layman and Drew Kridle and extended family members and friends to cherish her memory.
Margie was, in her words, an Army Brat, as her father Clement F. St John, served in the Army Medical Corps and the family moved for every new assignment that her father had. She spent a year, as a young child, in the Panama Canal Zone and told of seeing monkeys outside her bedroom window. Her father moved posts frequently as he rose in the ranks, with Margie attending three different high schools during her senior year. She also attended Stephens College and earned a Bachelor’s degree in Biology at Western College for Women. After college, she worked in a laboratory at Walter Reed Army Medical Center as a technician where she met her future husband, Richard Layman. They were married in Walter Reed Chapel on August 22, 1953.
Margie and husband Richard raised their three sons in Chambersburg, PA. She was devoted to her family and friends and worshipped for many years as an active member of Central Presbyterian Church and later Grace Brethren Church. She regularly attended her sons’ school activities and countless baseball and basketball games. She was routinely a PTA Room Mom and Team Mom, which she loved being a part of. She loved music and encouraged her sons to take music lessons. She also played the piano, organ, and accordion, occasionally playing a German beer drinking song on the accordion, much to the delight of her parents and young sons. She always made the time for games and crafts with her grandchildren.
Margie also lived a life of service. She was an active member of the Chambersburg Hospital Medical Auxiliary, often “pushing the cart” to offer magazines, newspapers and treats to patients staying in the hospital. She also regularly served as a crossing guard during the school year and taught her sons to do the same. She was a proud founding member of the Chambersburg Quilt Guild.
In 1990, Margie and Richard moved to Dallas, TX for two years before settling in Knoxville, TN for twenty-four years. In Knoxville, Margie was an active member of West Park Baptist Church.
Margie was extremely creative from an early age, learning needlepoint from her mother and grandmother. She learned to make her own clothes and made numerous costumes for her boys. She also knitted many blankets, shawls, hats, and mittens. She eventually became interested in quilting and became very proficient and prolific. She won many ribbons for her quilting at the Franklin County (PA) Fair and in Knoxville as a member of Smoky Mountain Quilters. She leaves behind beautiful quilts, pillows and wall hangings. And she made beautiful baby quilts for each of her seven grandchildren.
Margie was a wonderful cook and baker. She participated in bake sales and fundraisers by baking cookies, cakes and pies and made casseroles for church functions. She utilized whatever came out of the garden in many creative ways. She gave her family many good things to eat as well as good family memories and these recipes and traditions live on in her children’s families.
Margie was much loved by her family and friends and she will be dearly missed.
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