Obituary
Marion Francis Nash, 81, went home to be with the Lord, Sunday, October 15, 2023, in Kansas City, Missouri. She was born January 16, 1942, in Los Angeles, California to Dorothea Goodsill and Albert Schaefer and raised in the loving home of her Mom and Pop, George and Gladys Kramer.
Following her graduation from Lutheran High School in 1959, she married James Douglas Maddux on February 6, 1960, and enjoyed nearly 9 years of marriage until an accident claimed Jim’s life. At Jim’s homegoing, Marion became a widow with two small children, a daughter and a son. About a year later, the Lord brought Michael Nash into her life through mutual friends. They married October 25, 1969, and became a family of four as Michael adopted the children as his own.
In 1970, the family moved from the big city to a 10-acre farm with a pear orchard in Clifton, Colorado, where Marion demonstrated her resilience and creativity by sewing clothes, stuffed toys, and bedspreads, canning and freezing vegetables and fruits, making jams, jellies, and pickles, processing game meat, tending to crops, farm animals, and raising her children.
Marion, along with her husband, Michael, had a lifelong love for missions and Christian service and would often host missionaries in their home in Colorado. It was not surprising then, that in 1979, they sold everything and moved their family to Independence, Missouri to attend Calvary Bible College and train for full-time service themselves.
In 1983, Marion graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Bible and Elementary Education from Calvary Bible College and began her career as an educator at Blue Ridge Christian School in Raytown, Missouri. She later earned a Master’s of Arts degree in Teaching from Webster University and spent 34 years in Christian Education as a 4th grade teacher, Junior High Science Teacher and Administrator, Learning Disabilities Specialist, Science and Education Professor, and Chair of the Education Department of her alma mater.
A 44-year member of Pleasant Grove Bible Church, Marion spent her life loving and serving her husband of 54 years, her family, and her Lord as she taught children and adults in the classroom, Sunday School, Vacation Bible School, Bible Camp, Women’s Bible Studies, and Child Evangelism Fellowship Good News Clubs in her home.
A lifelong lover of the beach and ocean, Marion enjoyed cruises, snorkeling, and swimming well into her later years. She loved to play the piano and sang many duets in church with friends and family and in choirs throughout the years. She was a gifted organizer and home decorator, with an eye for just the right accent in just the right spot to make her home beautiful.
Marion is preceded in death by her parents, foster parents, foster brothers Wesley and Raymond Kramer, and her beloved brother, Arthur Schaefer. Marion is survived by her husband, Michael Nash; children Kathleen Ann Hall (Philip) and Michael James Nash (Julie); grandchildren Michael Brandon Nash (Tiffany), Andrew Christian Hall (Nova), Matthew Philip Hall (Corrie), and Rav’n Nicole Nash; great-grandchildren Aria Phoenix Nash, Wiliam Philip Hall, and Isaiah Christian Hall; bonus great-grandchildren Lucille Marie Clark, Nathanial Ashton Burton, and Tristian Xavior Burton; many brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, nieces, nephews, and friends.
Family and friends will meet at 10:00 am on Monday, October 23 at Pleasant Grove Bible Church, located at 4916 Lee’s Summit Road in Kansas City, Missouri for a Celebration of Life Service. Interment will take place at 12:00 pm on Tuesday, October 24 at the Missouri Veterans Cemetery, located at 20109 Business Highway 13 in Higginsville, Missouri.
Arrangements by Langsford Funeral Home, 115 SW 3rd Street, Lee’s Summit, MO 64063
I have actually tried to find Mrs. Nash for many years. We used to exchange cards at the holidays but over the years lost track of one another. I was a student of hers for many years at Blue Ridge Christian School. Although I had many wonderful teachers there, she was my very favorite. I admired her love for teaching, her preparedness and organization, but mostly I admired her love for the Lord. My favorite class that I had her for was Bible. I have saved the notes from that class all of these years. And I’m now a grandmother, so it’s been a few! She once was gave us an assignment to read a Proverb a day that corresponded to the day of the month, and to pick out a verse that stood out to us and write it down and a couple sentences as to why it had impacted us. It was technically for a grade, but that assignment created created a habit, and that habit expanded into a deep relationship with Jesus that changed my life. I never stopped, even when it was no longer for a grade. I learned how to love the Lord more because of sitting under her teaching and by knowing her. I last saw Mrs. Nash at my wedding nearly 28 years ago. I’m so sad I didn’t find her in time to tell her how much the Lord has done since we last spoke, but I am so thankful we have an eternity to catch up, as we worship at the feet of the One we both have given our lives for.
May God bless you all as you learn to live without her daily presence here on earth. She quite simply changed my life. I loved her very much. Much love to each of you.
Most Sincerely, Emily Honeycutt-Degler