Marjorie ‘Maisry’ MacCracken

MILLBROOK — Marjorie “Maisry” MacCracken, one of the oldest living graduates of Vassar College, died peacefully on Feb. 7, 2012, at The Fountains, a Millbrook retirement community. She was 102 years old.Maisry, as she was known since childhood, was born Oct. 7, 1909, in New Haven, where her father, Henry Noble MacCracken, was a young professor. He was appointed president of Vassar College in 1915, and Maisry grew up in the president’s house at Vassar. Maisry had many stories from her childhood spent on the campus, including watching from her home’s balcony as Franklin D. Roosevelt came to the campus as candidate for governor and then during the Depression when her parents took Eleanor Roosevelt to visit the poorest residents in Poughkeepsie and nearby areas. As a child at the family dinner table, she was inspired by the interesting and pioneering discussions her father had with his many guests on the importance of women’s education and other major issues of the times. She graduated from the Emma Willard School in Troy, N.Y., before enrolling at Vassar in 1927, where she majored in history. She graduated in 1931, then went on to earn a Bachelor of Library Science degree from Columbia University in 1932.She became a librarian at Wesleyan University, where among other responsibilities, she reached out to those in rural areas via a bookmobile program. From 1933 to 1935, she held a local fellowship with the Dutchess County library that eventually led to the formation of the Mid-Hudson Library System, along the way earning a Master of Arts degree from Vassar in 1935. From 1935 to 1940 she was librarian for J. P. Morgan & Co. in New York City.While living in New York City, Maisry became inspired by the efforts of Dr. Frank Buchman, who was a member of the Oxford Group in the United Kingdom, which founded Moral Re-Armament (MRA) as a response to despair generated by the deaths and trench warfare of World War I. Determined to help rebuild humanity’s moral core, MRA worked with the poor in many cities and countries around the world, from the lowest in society to the wealthy.Maisry began her association with MRA by volunteering at centers in New York City, joining full time in the effort in 1940. By the late 1940s, her assignments took her to Switzerland, Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina. In 1964, she was named chief librarian for the effort, which was then based in Mackinaw, Mich.Maisry returned to Poughkeepsie in the late 1960s to help care for her aging parents. She also served as librarian at Dutchess Community College from 1970 to 1976, and became involved with the Meals-on-Wheels program and the First Congregational Church of Poughkeepsie, among other service groups. In recognition of her many efforts helping others, Maisry was awarded the Val-Kill Candlelight Award in 2000. This award is given in recognition of those whose lives exemplify the principles of Eleanor Roosevelt, whom Maisry had met in 1933.Maisry, along with her sister, Joy, summered together at Yelping Hill, a small community in West Cornwall that her parents helped organize in 1922. They moved together to The Fountains in 1999, where Maisry continued her role of keeping people reading, serving as organizer of the book club until well past her 100th birthday.Maisry is survived by her brother, James MacCracken of Yarmouthport, Mass., and by Christine Vassar Tall of Cheshire, Conn., who came to live with the MacCracken family in 1940 when many children were evacuated during the heavy bombing in London, and who originally came to stay for a few months, but stayed with the family as the war continued and has been a close friend for more than 70 years. She is also survived by seven nieces and nephews, including Linda, Mike and Mark MacCracken and their families of West Cornwall; 12 grandnieces and grandnephews, and eight great-grandnieces and -grandnephews, whose pictures adorned her apartment.Maisry was predeceased by two brothers, Henry Noble Jr. and Calvin; and a sister, Joy. A memorial gathering is planned for March 23 at The Fountains. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the stained glass window fund at the First Congregational Church of Poughkeepsie; Vassar College; or the Heifer Project, which helps poor farmers become more independent.Arrangements are under the direction of Allen Funeral Home in Millbrook. Go to www.hudsonvalleyfuneralhomes.com to sign the online guest book.