Montrose - Daily Press

MONTROSE — Margie was born in Ponca City, Oklahoma, on June 18, 1930 to James and Irene Roberts. Her father worked at Miller Brothers’ 101 Ranch.  Her parents later moved to Siloam Springs, Arkansas, where they operated a business.

In Siloam Springs, Margie attended John Brown University, married Russell Welch, and then settled in Mobile, Ala. and gave birth to three children.

During those years she was a stay-at-home mom who volunteered to improve the library at her children’s neighborhood elementary school, serving as School Librarian, PTA president and a Cub Scout and Girl Scout volunteer.

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Margie was an independent woman of considerable ability. When her youngest child entered junior high school, she took a job as a margin clerk at Merrill Lynch brokerage house in Mobile, Ala., and in a few years the firm sent her to New York City for training. She passed the certification test and she returned to become the first woman stockbroker in Alabama. She further conducted seminars to teach women how to invest and handle their money. Later she went back to school and got a Masters’ Degree in Library Science at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. She continued to care for her aging mother, bringing her along to the university.

Margie had a special way of being with people, with a sincere and gentle manner and a beautiful voice. However, other important work lay ahead for Margie.

In 1981 Margie lost her husband and her children’s father to an automobile accident. By 1990 the once-rural neighborhood of her family home had become surrounded by polluting heavy industry. When one corporation wanted to begin importing and disposing of hazardous waste, Margie and some neighbors formed a neighborhood group called People Opposing Pollution.

Margie brought her skills as stockbroker and research librarian to this effort.  The neighborhood group became a remarkable multi-racial grassroots effort that ultimately won their fight to stop the hazardous waste disposal, winning the backing of the state attorney general and state legislators. A lasting legacy of Margie’s work is a system of warning sirens intended to alert residents of chemical accidents.

By this point, Margie was an environmentalist. She soon served as state chairman of the Alabama Sierra Club and its Mobile Bay Chapter. She also served on the national Sierra Club Environmental Justice Committee.

In 1991 Margie met her future husband, Bill Patterson. One thing led to another and in 2000, the couple moved to Montrose, Colorado, where Bill took a job with Western Colorado Congress. The couple both loved the mountains and canyon lands and bought a home on the Uncompahgre Plateau.  The couple hiked and Margie continued her long-time interest in wildlife.

Margie became active in the Montrose community. She served on the board of the Montrose Library District and as its president for several years. She also was active in the League of Women Voters, serving as its president for a year.

Margie continued her environmental work and was an active member of Western Colorado Congress, serving on its Public Lands Committee as well as being active in the local Uncompahgre Valley Association. Margie helped found Friends of the River-Uncompahgre.

Margie loved to read and do research, and until the brief illness that took her life, she read four newspapers a day and used the Internet daily. Over the years, her research aided many causes.

Margie and her husband Bill were soul mates, with remarkably similar tastes and values. Margie was a person of faith, and she and Bill read the Bible every night before bed. Margie went peacefully to her final home on April 9 at the family house outside Montrose with her husband at her side.

Margie is survived by her husband, Bill, of Montrose; sons Michael Welch of Mobile, Alabama, and Greg Welch and his wife Diane of Mobile, Alabama; daughter Wendy Eastburn and her husband Ron of Mobile, Alabama; grandchildren Ethan, Jessica, Katie and Natalie Welch of Mobile, Sasha Eastburn-Igou of Seagrove Beach, Florida, and Adam Eastburn of Chicago, Illinois; and great grandchildren, Abbie and Dayne.

Margie’s memorial service will be held Monday, April 14, at 4 p.m. at the United Methodists Church, South 1st St. and Park Ave, in Montrose.  A visitation will be held for family and friends from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. at the church. A reception will follow the memorial service in the church’s Baldridge Hall. Interment will follow in Mobile Memorial Gardens in Mobile, Ala.

In lieu of flowers, her family asks donations instead be sent to Hospice & Palliative Care of Western Colorado, P.O. Box 1804, Montrose, CO 81402.

Arrangements are under the direction and care of Crippin Funeral Home, 802 E Main St., Montrose, CO. (970) 249-2121.

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