WILMINGTON — Marjorie Mae Gaffney Loughlin passed away peacefully at Lower Cape Fear LifeCare in Wilmington, North Carolina on Wednesday, July 24, 2024.
Marjorie was born in Shelby, Cleveland County, NC on July 8, 1926, the daughter of Ethel Almond Gaffney and Joseph Laurence Gaffney, Sr.
Marjorie Married John William “Jack” Loughlin on June 6, 1948.
She was preceded in death by parents Ethel Gaffney in 1986 and Joseph L. Gaffney, Sr. in 1973; siblings Mary E. Gaffney Smith in 1993 and Joseph L. Gaffney, Jr. in 1982; and Husband Jack Loughlin in 2017 after 69 years of marriage.
Marjorie worked teaching dance to area students with longtime friend Jane Roper Hughes at Jane’s School of Dance in Wilmington. She loved her three Dachshund puppies Rick, Beau and Gus and would travel with them whenever she and Jack traveled, sometimes in their AMC Pacer or motor home. She and Jack loved to travel in their motor home and was a big fan of Loretta Lynn. She and Jack were former members of Hanover Seaside Club in Wrightsville Beach. Marjorie was a longtime member of Winter Park Baptist Church and attended Sunday School and Church services almost every Sunday until she fell at home on September 23. 2022 and had to go into various nursing homes for rehab and skilled nursing care.
Marjorie was what some people call a domestic engineer. She was one of the best cooks ever. Jack would say why go out to eat when you had “the best restaurant in town.” Marjorie was a very talented lady to say the least.
She was a member of the Orchid Society of Wilmington. She bought and grew some of the most beautiful orchids that eyes had ever seen.
She did “all” grades of crafts. She crocheted, sewed, cross-stitched plus so much more. If she saw something, it could be made by her.
She loved flowers and working in the yard. She had that green thumb until she had to give it up.
She and Jack weren’t fortunate enough to have children but dearly love other people’s little ones though.
Marjorie was full of life and love until the last few years when the evil brain disorder known as dementia began to take over her thoughts and mind. She began to lose recognition of people but could still remember clearly events that happened in her childhood days growing up.
Through it all she never quit loving her Lord. One of her final thoughts put on paper in February 2019 when she was making her wishes known was “I want a simple funeral. I am a Christian and I love the Lord and when He calls I will be ready.”
Marjorie is survived by nieces and nephews and friends and neighbors:
- Jeanette Abernethey, Valley Center, CA
- Joseph R. “Randy” De Simone, Shirley, NY
- Joe and Barbara Hancammon, Wilmington, NC
- Gail Hancammon, Wesley Chapel, FL
- Rella Morrison and Husband, Bruce, Pensacola, FL
- Gary Smith, Sr., Pensacola
- Joan Garrison, Oak Island, NC
- Janet Loughlin Jones, Vero Beach FL
- Linda Loughlin Packer, Wilmington, NC
- Kenneth C. Loughlin, Jr., Charlotte, NC
- Betsy-Jane Hughes Formella, Husband, Joern, and their son, Niels, Germany
- Jerrine Taylor, Wilmington, NC, Sunday School teacher Winter Park Baptist Church
- Tony Kucharski, Wilmington, NC, neighbor and walking partner for many years
- Numerous friends from Winter Park Baptist Church and all those who came into contact with her from her neighborhood and beyond.
- And numerous great-nieces and nephews.
We would like to thank the staff at Liberty Commons Nursing Center for the care they gave to Marjorie while she was a resident there.
A funeral service will be held at 2 p.m. Wednesday, July 31, 2024, at Andrews Valley Chapel with Pastor Mike Womble officiating. Prior to the service, the family will receive friends from 1 p.m. until the service hour. Interment will follow in Oakdale Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers please consider a donation to Winter Park Baptist Church or Lower Cape Fear LifeCare in Wilmington, NC.
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