An open memorial service will be held on Wednesday, August 19 for Marlene Joyce Perry, who died Nov. 18, 2013 of a head trauma sustained in an automobile accident. She was 78.

The memorial service will take place at 2 p.m. at the Oak Grove Cemetery in Oak Bluffs, where her ashes will be interred in her family plot.

Marlene was born on Martha’s Vineyard on July 14, 1935, the daughter of Joseph Carlo and Alice Schwemmler Perry.

After serving in the U.S. Marine Corps at Quantico, Va., she returned to the Vineyard and established Marlene’s Taxi. It was a popular business, especially with the ladies, as she would go to the door and escort them to and from the taxi. Later she moved to Daytona Beach, Fla., where she was an accountant in the firm of Allen Belus. It was there she became an active member in the Metropolitan Community Church, and then at Unity.

Marlene Perry became friends with Browne Hollowell in 1991, and they chose to spend their life together in Asheville, N.C. They enjoyed RV travel across the U.S. They loved their cruises to Alaska, Hawaii, the Greek Isles and Turkey, British Isles, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, the Azores and Portugal. They made many friends on these adventures. It was Marlene’s devotion and service to MCC Sacred Journey that activated their move to Hendersonville, N.C. in early 2013.

Marlene is survived by her partner, Browne, nephew Joe Costa and his wife Karen, her Hollowgrass family of Leigh, Rachel and Clara Starr, Browne’s son Peter and sister Anne and her husband Win Magerkurth. She was also devoted to her niece Carol and great nieces Debra and Marguerite. She will be missed by her cousins Richard (Buzzy) Blankenship, Anne Perry Coleman, Diana Perry Busby, and Jackie Amaral, as well as loving friends and cousins from all over the United States.