LITTLE ROCK — Marjorie Anne Madsen’s life can be summed up by the song she wanted played at her funeral - Elvis Presley’s rendition of “My Way.”
“She was always positive and she had a spirit, a fighting spirit. She wasn’t going to give up,” said her daughter, Diana Allen.
Madsen died Wednesday at her Lonoke home from complications of lung cancer. She was 74.
In the early 1960s in Jacksonville, Madsen, a Massachusetts native, had her first date with Jerry Madsen, who picked her up at the hospital where she worked.
“I showed up in a suit and tie and she had been working in the kitchen. ... She was all sweaty,” her husband laughed. “We looked at each other and said, ‘No, that’s not going to work.’ A couple of months later, we were married.”
While Jerry Madsen worked for Boeing Co. , the couple moved often before settling in Branson in 1979.
In addition to owning a small resort, they became cast members in The Shepherd of the Hills outdoor drama.
Marjorie Madsen, a square dancer, had some memorable moments during their performances.
“There was a scene with a fast wagon,” her husband said. “The whole wagon fishtailed and there’s dirt flying in the area, and she went right off the back of it, face first. ... She was all banged up, but she was all right.”
After 25 years in Branson, it was time for a change.
“I came home one afternoon and I said, ‘We haven’t been anywhere for a while. Let’s move; let’s go to the mountains,’” Jerry Madsen said. “She said, ‘No, let’s move, but I want to go to the ocean.’”
In 1988, the couple shipped their car to Hawaii and bought a vacation package with a round-trip ticket, just in case they couldn’t find work. Both found jobs on the island of Maui and spent the next four years taking in the culture, from whale-watching to luaus.
The Madsens moved back to Missouri in 1992 and to Lonoke in 2004 to be closer to their children.
Throughout their marriage, the couple visited all 50 states and went on several cruises, including one in the 1990s to Alaska.
Despite her declining health in recent years, Marjorie Madsen continued to do the things she loved, which included gardening.
“We always told [our father] he needed to keep a shovel and bucket in the car because anytime she’d see some type of unusual plant life, she wanted him to pull over and dig it up and bring it home to plant it,” Diana Allen said.
Marjorie Madsen adored her three cats - Shania, Max and Annie, a stray kitten she named after Little Orphan Annie, Jerry Madsen said.
“They slept with her, sat on her,” he said. “Even when she was here dying, the cat she originally bought, Shania, laid on the corner of the bed real quiet.”
In September, Marjorie Madsen went on her final trip to Florida, where she “loved just sitting on the balcony, watching for the dolphins,” her daughter said.
Madsen asked that her ashes be released over the ocean, mixed with her husband’s when he dies. Madsen wrote to her daughter: “When you step into the ocean, if you feel a tickle on your foot, it just might not be a fish! You know how I love the ocean!”
To provide hope in the midst of sorrow, Madsen left parting words to her loved ones that will be read at the funeral: “You will forever be in my heart, and I will always be there for you, anytime you need me. All you have to do is listen to your heart, and remember. Be happy, go on with your lives, and believe. Believe that we will all be together again one day.”
Arkansas, Pages 14 on 01/05/2013