Marjorie Jeane (Lievense) Funderburg

The amazing Marjorie Jeane Funderburg (née Lievense) died on May 18, 2026, 10 days shy of her 102nd birthday. She passed just as she had wanted—peacefully, painlessly, swiftly, and in her own room at the Cathedral Village retirement community in Philadelphia, PA. Her children, Diane, Margaret, and Lise, and dear friend Marny Walsh were with her.

Maggie, as she was known, lived a life defined by adventure, community, and curiosity. She started out on the South Shore of Chicago, the daughter of Jacob Lievense, a bookkeeper, and Lola (Vance) Lievense, a zoology teacher. Maggie grew up during the Great Depression and went to college during World War II. She graduated from Cornell College in Mt. Vernon, Iowa, and it was there, from a visiting lecturer, that she first learned of pacifism and the work of the Quakers.

Maggie’s long association with Philadelphia and the Quakers began during the war years, when she came to Philadelphia to be an aide at the Byberry State Hospital for her senior thesis. Working there was one of the great adventures of her life, she said, and it included a hitchhiking trip with coworkers to New York’s Times Square to celebrate peace with Japan. Maggie joined an American Friends Service Committee workcamp in 1948, where she helped build a pottery studio at North Carolina’s Penland School of Handicrafts. A Goettingen, Germany, workcamp followed, where she built houses for refugee families from the East Zone. Two more years in Germany followed, working in refugee camps and the AFSC offices.

Back in Philadelphia, Maggie chose to live in Powelton Village in one of the Friendship Cooperative houses, where she met George Funderburg. The two were married at the First Unitarian Church, went on to have the three daughters, then separated in 1972. Maggie lived in Powelton for more than 50 years, where she was an active member of the community, co-founding a babysitting cooperative, writing the “Over the Fencepost” column for the Powelton Post, and serving as a Democratic Committeeperson. In 1959, Maggie joined with a group of neighbors and friends to establish a cooperatively owned beach house in Harvey Cedars, NJ, a former Coast Guard dormitory that still operates today. Top O’ the Dunes, as it’s called, was the site of many joyous family holidays that included highly competitive ping pong matches dominated by Maggie for decades. She vanquished her opponents with a killer backhand spin developed during her high school days.

For many summers, Maggie piled the girls into her car and drove them out to Little Birch Lake in Minnesota, where her parents had taken over a small resort. Her sister, Louise, who predeceased her, ran the resort for many years, and the annual visits helped Maggie and her daughters maintain strong connections with her family.

Once her children were in school, Maggie launched a 20-year career as an early education teacher. She taught in the Get Set and Follow Through programs, then went on to teach in Philadelphia’s public schools. In addition to working full-time and raising three rambunctious girls, she earned a master’s degree in Early Childhood Education from Temple University. In the late 1970s, Maggie arranged an exchange year with a teacher from Brighton, England, cementing her status as an Anglophile.

Upon retirement, Maggie turned her house into a Bed and Breakfast, which connected her to a global community of new friends, including ongoing connections in Finland, Australia, and Haiti.

Maggie’s interests included decades of studying Iyengar yoga and volunteering at the Morris Arboretum, where she was honored for 30 years of service. Travel was a great passion and she roamed far and wide with friends and with Elderhostel, on boat trips and bicycle adventures. She loved word games and took no prisoners when it came to Scrabble. Maggie played the piano and loved to sing. She was a longtime member of Philadelphia’s Singing City Choir, and when she moved to Cathedral Village in 2014, she joined its chorus. Always one to get involved, she worked in the CV greenhouse, joined a German translation group, a book club, and volunteered at the Chestnut Hill Library. She cultivated a plot in CV’s “Plotters Field” community garden, dispensing zinnias and sungold tomatoes to all who would take them. In the summer of 2025,

her mini-watermelon condo was a tourist destination and the subject of a feature article in The Bellringer. For many years, Maggie helped run the Attic, the CV thrift store partnering first with the late Lois Miller, and then later with Marny Walsh. Because Attic proceeds went to a CV employee appreciation fund, maximizing sales became Maggie’s mission and she encouraged all her visitors and family to shop there. At Christmas, family members received popular “Maggie Bucks” which were redeemable at the store.

Maggie is survived by the Mom Squad, which includes daughters Diane, Margaret, and Lise, beloved granddaughter Phoebe Funderburg-Moore, and son-in-law John Howard. Surviving extended family includes nieces Carol Venezia, Elizabeth Huebner, and namesake Marjorie Huebner; Freyja Howard, Bowen Diamond, Jason Howard, Adelaide Moschler, Ebo Nunoo, and Sareba Nunoo. Maggie also leaves behind many, many friends, admirers, and her adopted family, including the Powelton kids and her ersatz son, Karsten Dybvad and his ever-expanding Danish horde.

A celebration of her life will be scheduled. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Morris Arboretum, 100 East Northwestern Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19118 https://www.morrisarboretum.org/join-give/ways-give or World Central Kitchen, 2001 L St NW Suite 500 PMB 2124, Washington, DC 20036 https://donate.wck.org/give/499865