Marion S. Welsh

Marion S. Welsh, Grayling, Michigan Passed away Monday, April 16, 2007, at age 86. She was born Marion Selena DuBois June 4, 1920, in Vassar, Michigan to Leah Kate (Truax), and James G. DuBois, the second of five children. She graduated from Vassar High School in 1938, and then from the Michigan Academy of Art in Saginaw in 1940. She was married to Robert Schultz from 1941 to 1946. On November 10, 1949 she married Thomas R. Welsh of Grayling, a marriage that would last 53 years until his death on July 11, 2002. Marion was very artistic from a young age, having designed and sent Christmas Cards to family and friends for over 80 years. She was a painter, quilter, basket weaver, and designer of many personal and business projects over her many years. She started a quilt at age 12, and, after a lapse of 47 years, finished the quilt in 1979, a project that launched over 45 quilts and 200 quilted wall hangings. She helped stage quilt shows at the Ice House Quilt Shop for several years, and was a founding member and first president of the AuSable Quilt Guild, formed in 1987. She designed the logo for the Grayling Winter Sports Park, one of many designs she incorporated in her award winning "Michigan Quilt," completed in honor of Michigan's 150th Anniversary. This quilt was selected to hang in Meadowbrook Hall, Rochester, as part of its celebration of the state anniversary, was a part of the Grayling Christmas Walk in 1987, and is now hanging at the Interpretive Center at Hartwick Pines State Park, as well as being immortalized on postcards available at the Pines and throughout the state. Over the years she was a member of the Eastern Star, the Grayling Women's Club, Hospice, and the "Bridge Club." She was employed at Baringer's Men's Shop and later, the Grayling Mercantile Company until her retirement. She is survived by a son, Thomas II and wife, Lynn (Akers), of Bridgeport, and a daughter, Joanne and husband Frank Doty, of Traverse City, and five grandchildren, Jennifer (Dave) Szmansky, Ann Arbor, Blair (Kendra) Doty, Traverse City, Erin (Adam) Mattens, Battle Creek, Megan Welsh and fiancée, Daniel Burr, Midland, and Colin Welsh, Bridgeport, great grandchildren Ella and Evan Szmansky, Ann Arbor, her brother, Jim (Mary Lou) DuBois, Vassar, and sisters-in-law, Jayne DuBois, Vassar, and Nelle Maharg, Cass City. In addition are many nieces and nephews and their families from Connecticut to Hawaii, Michigan to Texas. Her parents, as well as sister Betty Reed, and brothers Samuel "Buddy" DuBois and Leeds DuBois preceded her in death. Family and friends visitation will take place at the Sorenson-Lockwood Funeral Home, 1108 North Down River Road, Grayling, MI, on Friday, April 27th, from 1:00 to 4:00 PM, and 6:00 to 8:00 PM. A Remembrance and Memorial service will take place on Saturday, April 28th, at the Sorenson-Lockwood Funeral Home, at 11:00 AM. For those planning an expression of sympathy, the family invites you to consider remembering Marion with memorials to Mercy Hospice, Grayling, or Breast Cancer/Relay for Life. To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Marion S. Welsh, please visit our flower store.