Marion McMahon Was Veteran, Retired Teacher

Marion Cushman McMahon died on Sept. 26. She was born in Bridgewater on August 20, 1914, daughter of Edgar Everett and Ruth Murray Cushman. Her introduction to Martha's Vineyard came early in her life when, after the death of her mother, her father married Carrie Louise Coffin of Edgartown; she then visited the Vineyard for the first time. From that time until her death she managed to spend part of every year in Edgartown.

Marion attended the local schools of Bridgewater, graduating from the Bridgewater High School in 1931 and Bridgewater Teacher's College in 1935. Following that she taught school in West Bridgewater for several years. When World War II began she enlisted in the WAAC's, attending Officer's Training School and graduating as a lieutenant. She was stationed in Boca Raton Army Airfield and several parts of the United States, ending in her discharge from Ft. Bragg, N.C. She met and married her husband, Lieut. Donald Gregory McMahon, when she was in Boca Raton.

Following the end of the war, she and her husband, who worked for Western Airlines, went to the West Coast. Here they lived at different times in Los Angeles and Palm Springs, Calif., Jackson Hole, Wyo., and finally in Helena and Great Falls, Mont. It was in Great Falls that Marion returned to teaching at Great Falls Public Schools.

After the death of her husband and her retirement from teaching, she returned to Martha's Vineyard. She had a home built in Edgartown and engaged in local activities, attending the Federated Church and serving for one term on the Edgartown zoning board. She enjoyed her favorite hobbies of fishing, supplying friends and neighbors with bluefish and also digging a few quahaugs for chowder and searching for scallops with a viewer and net.

She is survived by two children, Donald Gregory McMahon of Monarch, Mont., and Deborah McMahon Sand of Sun River, Mont. She also leaves six grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. She also is survived by three sisters, Mildred Mayhew of Chilmark, Margery Anderson of Saybrook, Conn., and Dorothy McCracken of Englewood, Fla., and a brother, Francis N. Cushman of Bellevue, Wash. She was predeceased by her oldest daughter, Patricia McMahon Graeler.

A graveside service will be held in the Old Westside Cemetery, Edgartown at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 1, officiated by the Rev. Roger Spinney. Donations may be made in her memory to Hospice of Martha's Vineyard, P.O. Box 2549, Oak Bluffs, MA 02557 or to a charity of one's choice. Arrangements are by Chapman, Cole and Gleason Funeral Home in Oak Bluffs.