Marge V. Willmarth

On June 10, 2025, at the age of 92, Margaret (aka Marge or Midge), our generous and affable matriarch, closed her bright blue eyes for the last time. Born in Cleveland, Ohio on March 16, 1933, Marge lived a full life energized by connections, guided by a compass of kindness, and devoted to the noble art of making people feel special.

Marge loved everyone, and was beloved by everyone, but especially by her daughter Donna (Diane), her grandchildren Scott and Ryn Willmarth, her late husband, Ray, to whom she was married for 56 years before his death, her nieces and nephews and many great nieces, nephews, and grandpuppies. Preceded in death by her parents, Michael Ellslager and Anna Kramer, and her sisters Helen, Ann, Dorothy, and brother William, Marge treasured her role as a daughter, a wife, a mother, a grandmother, an aunt, a sister, and a friend.

She and Ray took great pleasure in the time they spent on the lake and at the CIC yacht club, fishing for perch and walleye, golfing and congregating with friends for happy hour. Regardless of where she lived, Marge visited the beauty salon on a weekly basis, and she was up for anything with a little nudge from her daughter. Trying oysters for the first time in Chicago, purchasing a pair of tennis shoes to keep up on a European vacation, posing with cows in Switzerland, and playing along when she was "voluntold" to take the stage, Marge enjoyed making memories. She was an excellent cook who never served a bad meal, and on special occasions, welcomed every chance she had to host family gatherings and celebrations that allowed her loved ones to stay connected. When Scott and Ryn were old enough to take their grandmother out for a meal, those outings meant everything to Marge.

Generous to a fault, over the course of their marriage, beginning with nieces and nephews and continuing all the way through to their grandchildren, Marge and Ray spent nearly all of their money on the people in their lives. Caring deeply about making others feel special, she took great pride in finding the perfect gift. She was the sort of person who noticed the big and the small things: what everyone wanted, newly acquired hobbies and interests, even needs people didn't know they had, and her generosity extended well beyond family. She held many jobs throughout her life, from interviewing people at Western Electrictic, to serving as a receptionist at Elco Lubricant and Bartels Pet Hospital, to delivering seeds to hardware stores, to stocking American Greeting cards on the shelves at a variety of businesses, to her cherished role teaching people how to paint the greenware that Ray created from molds. In each of those spaces, she never knew a stranger. Naturally observant and always up for conversation, Marge loved to learn about the way other people lived, and she fully embraced every chance she had to make them feel special.

After Ray passed away, Marge eventually moved to Columbus to be closer to her family. She loved watching the dogs swim in the pool, playing bingo at the community center, frequenting the casino with Lisa and Marianne, and attending wine tastings at Giant Eagle. We cherish the stories that emerged from her antics, and find great joy remembering that only Marge could build a friendship after an accidental motorized cart collision, or inspire a complete stranger to hand her an unencumbered $100 bill to play the slot machines at the casino.

To know Marge is to love her, and we could not possibly name all of the people who mattered in her life. We are grateful for every relationship, and feel tremendous gratitude recalling how much the visits and calls from family, friends, her former health aide, case manager, doctor, and physical therapist meant to her in the last days of her life. Marge spent her last hours with those she loved, listening to campfire songs (that were occasionally off key).

We would like to thank the staff at Summit Home Care and Hospice for their skilled nursing expertise and for the effort they made to afford Marge a sense of dignity and beauty. They made her dressing rituals a priority, and we cherish all they did to help Marge feel ready to face each day. We are also grateful for the home Mary provided to Marge for the last 7 months of her life, as well as the great care given by both Mary and Karen. Throughout all of her 92 years, Marge had a loving community around her, and we will always feel grateful she was in our lives.

An informal celebration of Marge’s life will be held on Sunday, June 22 from 1- 4 pm at Donna and Diane’s (2009 Keswick Dr., Columbus OH 43220).

In lieu of flowers, Marge preferred donations be directed to RESCUEDOhio. Just like Marge always knew what we needed, this organization knows what dogs need to get a second chance at adoption.