Marjorie Frank Boyle
Marjorie Frank Boyle died September 24, 2017 at her beloved home in Santa Barbara, California after battling cancer for a number of years.
Born in Independence, Iowa on May 8, 1934 to Norman and Marybel Frank, Marjorie had wonderful memories of her childhood in the Midwest. She loved playing musical instruments in her junior and high school bands. Although her parents had no piano at the time, Marjorie began to take piano lessons at age 7 and practiced every day at a neighbor’s house. After seeing the movie A Song to Remember, she was determined to play just like Oscar Wilde. After 6 years of practicing at the neighbor’s house, Santa Claus brought Marjorie a piano for Christmas, which she still enjoyed to play up until recently. Marjorie was also thrilled when she got a baby brother and spent countless hours rocking him to sleep.
Marjorie attended Iowa State University, and after her parents moved to Santa Barbara, she attended Santa Barbara City College and University of California at Santa Barbara, when the campus was on the Riviera. She then worked at GE-TEMPO where she met her late husband, Stephen. They were married for almost 26 years before Stephen’s death in 1984. She and Stephen built their family home in 1962 at which they hosted both formal dinner parties and casual patio barbeques with friends and family.
Summers were spent in the Sierra Nevada backpacking with the family, Christmases in Yosemite, along with travel to Mexico, South America, Hawaii, hiking in the San Rafael Wilderness and numerous trips to Washington, D.C. while Stephen established the Potomac branch of Tecolote Research, Inc. More recently, Marjorie traveled several times a year to visit her daughter and son-in-law in Atlanta and to Independence, Iowa, to attend her high school reunions.
She loved to photograph gatherings of friends and family. If you attended any type of social gathering at which Marjorie was present over the decades, she probably has a photo that includes you.
Marjorie loved to travel, but being home with her children, dogs, cats, hundreds of rose bushes and volunteering in the community were equally satisfying to her. She joined the Santa Barbara Symphony League in 1966, serving as corresponding secretary and recording secretary before taking on the job of treasurer, which she held for approximately 40 years. Marjorie had deep Scottish roots and took Scottish country dancing classes. For years, she handled reservations for the Robert Burns Birthday Party for the Scottish Society of Santa Barbara. Other organizations in which she was involved include St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church (where she sang in the choir and counted donations each Monday morning), Assistance League of Santa Barbara, Junior League of Santa Barbara, PEO (Chapter RO), Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, Museum of Natural History, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, CAMA Women’s Board, National Charity League, Pi Beta Phi, Planned Parenthood, Wildlife Care Network, Santa Barbara Foundation and The Little Town Club.
Marjorie also taught herself to knit when she was a little girl and continued knitting until recently. She was accomplished at count-thread cross stitchery and her house displayed her framed stitchery that were based on historic samplers from early English and American works.
Decorating for Christmas was another of her passions. As soon as the Thanksgiving dinner was put away, Marjorie began decorating numerous Christmas trees throughout her home. She invited friends to tour her house to see her Christmas trees, which included themes of fruits and vegetables, teddy bears, mice, Noah’s arks, Santa Claus, snowmen, Scottish, sheep as well as Raggedy Ann and Andy.
After Stephen’s death, Marjorie’s second love was Jim Giusto, who was the former publisher of This Week in Santa Barbara. They were “sweethearts” for many years before his death in 2000. Jim and Marjorie were regularly seen around town at Downey’s, Tutti’s, Mimosa, CAMA concerts, the SB Symphony and traveling to Carmel for long weekends.
Marjorie is survived by her brother, Stephen T. Frank (Joy) of Santa Barbara, her son, Jeffrey Boyle (Loan Luong) of Santa Barbara and daughter, Courtney Kaylor (Wes) of Atlanta, Georgia.
A memorial service will be held at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church (4575 Auhay Drive, Santa Barbara, CA 93110) on Thursday, October 5, 2017 at 3:00 p.m.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church of Santa Barbara, Planned Parenthood of Santa Barbara (518 Garden Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93101), Junior League of Santa Barbara (229 E. Victoria Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93101), The Land Trust for Santa Barbara (1530 Chapala Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93101) or the Buchanan County Historical Society (PO Box 321, Independence, Iowa 50644).