Marjory Ann (Barrett) Tominac

Marjory Ann Tominac, 91, died January 17, 2026. She was born at home in Suffern, New York, on April 23, 1934, to Carroll and Madeline Barrett, joining two older brothers, Charles and Ward. Brother Alan, was born two years later.

After graduating from Suffern High School in 1952, Marge moved to Boulder to major in Home Economics at the University of Colorado. Her soon-to-be-divorced mother relocated to Denver at the same time, which is where Marge joined her after deciding college wasn’t her thing. Not long thereafter, Alan convinced his mom and sister to move to California, and the three of them ultimately landed in Santa Ana, where Marge worked as a long-distance telephone operator.

In the fall of 1956, Marge and her co-workers attended a dance in Long Beach. Don Tominac spied the pretty brunette across the room, and bravely approached the group of women to ask Marge to dance. They were a couple from that point forward, tying the knot in June 1957.

Son Robert was born in 1958; daughter Susan in 1960. The family made a bold move in July 1969 when they sold their home in Gardena, put their household goods in storage, and set off with their two children in a truck and camper with a notion of settling in the Pacific Northwest. Boise and Portland were their top picks. They took a circuitous route in order to explore as many states as possible along the way. In the end, Boise was too hot and too dry, so they kept driving west. The beauty of the Cascades and the Columbia Gorge sold them on Oregon. After Don secured a job at the Main Post Office in Portland, the family used the waiting period to drive out to Michigan to visit cousins. It made for one epic road trip--six weeks altogether.  

The family settled in Tigard, Oregon, where Marge and Don purchased an old farm house fixer-upper. Marge developed a love of gardening, and the large lot offered her plenty of space to cultivate a colorful English Garden-style landscape that attracted lots of admiration from passers-by. At every yard sale, someone would stop just to get a close-up look at her flowers.

In addition to having a green thumb, Marge was an incredible seamstress. In high school and beyond, she sewed lots of her own clothes, often fooling her friends who thought they were department-store quality.  She sewed all of her daughter’s school dresses and made a complete wardrobe from the remnants for Susie’s dolls. Her children remember her wearing fitted dresses and pretty aprons in the 1960s and 1970s as she went about her housework. She was a Donna Reed for the working class.

She volunteered once a week at the Tigard Library for 8 years, starting in the mid-1970s. Working the front counter, she met and befriended many patrons who shared her passion for books. Her husband, and, later, her adult daughter, knew that you couldn’t drive past a used-books store without stopping. Marge always carried a little spiral notebook that listed the titles she wanted to add to her collection. Elisabeth Ogilvie, Miss Read, Mary Ellen Chase, and Tony Hillerman were among her favorite authors. 

After Don died in 2018, Marge was living alone for the first time in her life. She coped fairly well in the first few years, with help from her daughter, her son-in-law Cameron Wilson and grandsons Ryan Wilson and Jacob Wilson. Pre-Pandemic, she used taxis and senior ride services to maintain some independence from family. Then, as her strength, balance, and eyesight began to diminish, she tended to stay closer to home. Her family encouraged her on numerous occasions to consider an assisted-living arrangement. Marge adamantly refused. Every time. The fear of moving to a new place was scarier than staying in the old house by herself. She did, however, concede to hire a yard maintenance crew and housekeeping helpers.

On January 1, 2026, she ended up in the hospital due to inexplicable weakness. Her body was shutting down. Her will to live was slipping away as well. She died in hospice care on January 17.

She is survived by her son, her daughter, her son-in-law, two grandsons, sister-in-law Kay Ganieany and niece Alyson Barrett. 

At her request, no services were held. Westside Cremation and Burial Service facilitated her cremation.

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