Marjorie Magdalen McGuire

Marjorie Fusmer McGuire died September 22 in Plattsburgh where she was residing at the
Samuel F. Vilas Home assisted living community. She was 99.

Marge was born in Johnstown on September 5, 1927 to Benjamin and Mabel Suits Fusmer. Her
brother Benjamin Roger Fusmer, known as Roger, died about 20 years ago.

Marge was descended from the Palatine German stock that settled in the Mohawk Valley in the
early 1700s after they fled conflict in southern Germany including French King Louis XIV’s war
against the German protestants. Her ancestors fought in the Revolution and the Civil War. One
great grandfather, Hendrick Herkimer, fought at the massacre at Oriskany and helped carry his
wounded brother General Nicholas Herkimer back to his home in Little Falls where he died days
later. Another great grandfather, Capt. Dillenbeck, was shot and killed in that battle.
So, all this to say Marge had American bona fides. She grew up a top student at Johnstown High
School, class of ‘45, where the yearbook shows her standing next to her husband, Richard
McGuire, in a photo of the National Honor Society. “I picked him out in 9th grade,” she said a
million times.

In her younger years she played the piano and was the illustrator for her high school paper,
copies of which she saved – along with everything else, including all the letters she and Dick
wrote when they were separated at different colleges.

Marge graduated in 1949 from what was then Albany State College where one of her fellow
students was the famous gay rights activist, Harvey Milk, who was assassinated in San Francisco
while serving on the city council. Marge knew Milk who was played by Sean Penn in the movie.
In adult life, Marge started out teaching elementary school in Boonville, Cherry Valley and the
Warren Street School in Johnstown. Then she took a break to raise her four children, during
which time she took graduate courses at various colleges and got certified to teach high school
English, her true academic passion. She taught at the former Linton High School in Schenectady
for many years before retiring about 1990. She loved American struggles depicted in her
favorite novels, including The Grapes of Wrath, Catcher in the Rye and The Great Gatsby. No
matter how many times she taught Catcher she was touched by Holden Caulfield’s anguish over
the fate of the ducks on the Central Park pond come winter. She always mentioned it, perhaps
not considering her son, Tom, whose concern for the ducks was limited to how close they
landed near his blind. Or that Holden was just another alienated rich boy growing up in a luxury apartment
overlooking Central Park. Hey, rich and privileged or not, we’re all human.

Anyway, Marge was the commander of her household. Her son, Dan, called her The General. In
her house there was never any consideration of anyone’s ethnicity, race or religion. She was
very attuned to national politics right until the end. She watched MSNOW every night and on
the political spectrum she might give Bernie Sanders a run for his money. After growing up
Presbyterian she became a Catholic to please her husband – but more of a social Catholic and
yet, in her values, as Christian as any and in her humanity more so than many.

Her older children will always remember her crying on the porch when they came home from
school on Nov. 22 in 1963. She believed in JFK’s Camelot. Unexpected death left a dark cloud
again when her youngest son, Dan, succumbed to cancer in 2009.

Marge loved the Yankees through every era. Billy Martin, as the fiery manager, was one of her
favorites as was his nemesis, Reggie Jackson. In football she followed the Packers and Giants,
Fran Tarkington and Paul Horning. She liked the big bands and Judy Garland and Dean Martin.
She was a baker with a chocolate cake always on the counter. And she knitted dozens of hats
and sweaters. For a number of years in retirement, after they moved from Vley Road in Scotia
back to Johnstown, she and Dick delivered Meals on Wheels. In Johnstown she was a member
of several clubs including the Kingsborough Garden Club and Burroughs.

She was a fanatic when it came to decorating for every holiday. There was a storage closet in
her cellar full of an inventory ranging from St. Patrick’s Day to Christmas.
And she will never be forgiven for disposing of a million dollars worth of baseball cards.
Goodbye Mickey, Willie and the Duke. None of her explanations was satisfactory.
As a widow, Marge returned to upstate after living in Florida under the care of her daughter
Anne. She moved to Plattsburgh where she was close to her granddaughter, Emily, who with
her husband, Eli Schwartzberg, own the Vilas Home. They took great care of her.

Marge was predeceased by Dick who left us in October 2023 and, as mentioned, Dan. Marge
and Dick were married 72 years. Marge is survived by her daughter, Anne McGuire of Lakewood
Ranch, Fla.; her sons Tom (Kathy) McGuire of Duanesburg and Jim (Jenny) McGuire of Bleecker;
grandchildren Emily (Eli) Schwartzberg of Lake Placid; Ben (Heather) McGuire of Saratoga; Eric
(Michelle) McGuire of Cape Cod; Hannah (Eddie) Nolan of Boston; Conor (Stephanie) Carroll of
New Jersey; Tom (Ellen) Carroll of Seattle; and Lydia McGuire of Malone and Sean McGuire of
Florida and seven greatgrandchildren and counting.

A reception at a local venue will be announced later. She didn’t want a big fuss.