Marjorie Lawson Hart

Marjorie was reunited with her heavenly family on January 11th, a warm, Spring-like day. She was born into a family of subsistence farmers at the beginning of the Great Depression in a holler in Washington County where Lake Wedington sits today. At an early age, she learned the importance of family, education, and the value of hard work. She walked a couple of miles to school each day in Savoy, unless she was lucky enough to catch a ride with the school’s teacher. Her sisters, Freda and Betty, remained her best friends throughout life. She graduated from Siloam Springs High School in 1947, earning the superlative “Most Likely to Succeed,” and succeed she did. She went on to earn a Bachelor of Science in Education from Oklahoma A&M where she met the first love of her life, Hassel Keeton Lawson. They were married in 1950 then moved to Germany where Hassel was stationed in the Army. Their first daughter, Deborah, was born there. When they returned to the States they opened a Freezette in Florida and had two more children, Laura Beth and Hassel Keeton Jr. The unique gravitational force of the Ozarks eventually pulled them home where they bought a farm outside of Springdale. Marjorie continued her career as a librarian at public and private institutions in the area while Hassel served as Post Master in Tontitown. Cancer cut her time with Granddaddy Lawson too short. In her early sixties she fell in love a second time and married Everett Hart, who was embraced as “Papa” by her daughters and a dozen grandkids. They spent the next several years cheerfully tending to his family farm and traveling together. Her family was everything to her and her faith was a guiding light through life’s many tragedies. The deaths of her son, a daughter, two husbands, and so many friends took a toll on her spirit, but she never broke. She found peace in her work, her many friendships, her flower beds, watching her bird feeders, and picking up shells on the beach. In her seventies she started a new part-time career as a caregiver for a young woman with a traumatic brain injury. She went on to work at the Schmieding Center for Senior Health and Education. She didn’t retire from her full time career as a librarian until she was 89. She loved traveling to the Oregon coast, the Colorado Rockies, and to folk or gospel concerts throughout the Ozarks. She was the most thoughtful friend, constantly writing letters, sharing bits of wisdom she came across, but mostly just listening and providing comfort. She kept us well fed. She was a maven of the meat case, happily reporting the best deals on steaks around town. Her mashed potatoes are what dreams are made of. (Try adding a stick of butter for every two pounds of boiled potatoes, then add good amounts of buttermilk and sour cream and mix until you have the consistency you like). No meal was complete without strawberries, pie crust, and ice cream. She taught us how to grow a big vegetable garden and preserve what we couldn’t eat fresh, to fix a barbed wire fence and birth a calf, to save our baling twine and pantyhose for countless uses, and to cherish what little time we were given together because it goes by so fast. She was an active member of FBC Springdale (Cross Church) for over sixty years. She was a generous donor to the Samaritan’s Purse, Heifer International, and Arkansas Baptist Ranch. At partings she liked to say, “keep your powder dry,” always acknowledging that you should trust in God but be prepared to take action. Marjorie is survived by her sisters, Freda Wilmoth and Betty Nance; daughter, Deborah Hendrix; as well as a host of grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren. Friends and family are invited to attend a visitation with the family on Friday, January 20th from 5-7 p.m. at Sisco Funeral Chapel in Springdale. The memorial service will be held on Saturday, January 21st at 9 a.m. at Cross Church in Springdale, followed by a procession to White Oak Cemetery in Fayetteville for a brief burial service.

Marjorie Lawson Hart

April 1, 1930 - January 11, 2023