Margie Joan Fromherz was born to John S, and Elene Mary Mischel December 4, 1934, in Portland, Oregon.  Her father was a farmer, and Mom grew up growing vegetables for the markets and driving tractor to grow row crops on farms in Rainier Oregon and the West Hills near Salem, Oregon.  Her mother loved the flower garden, and Mom came to love growing flowers. She always kept a neat garden, as large as she could manage and planted with all the right flowers and shrubs.  She studied Landscape Design at OSU and later became a Marion County Master Gardener.  Mom completed her Nursing degree from the University of Portland, then served in the Public Health Office for Tillamook County and Marion County, where she was called on to check on the welfare of eight children being cared for by a widower. She would later tell that she fell in love with the kids before she fell in love with Joe.  She married (Adolf) Joseph Fromherz in May of 1967 and had three sons of her own, John, Paul and Matthew, with him. Dad also grew up on a farm, so he always tried to keep a working farm, moving from property to property over the years.  He would say "you've got to have a pretty good outside job to support a farm," so Mom often had to keep the household and farm running while Dad was off at distant jobsites as a union steamfitter/pipefitter.  Some of the older kids were mature enough to watch over the younger, so, when she could, she helped make ends meet by continuing her nursing work.  She loved all her kids. She learned to make and decorate cakes, providing the centerpiece for the weddings of many of her kids. As the kids got married and moved away, she would always try to make time to travel to be with them when a new arrival was welcomed, helping the new mother and loving the new grandchild. If the family lived near enough, she was always happy to be a babysitter, keeping the kids creatively occupied with gardening and landscape design activities among others.  She never stopped trying to learn about nutrition, herbal medicine, and anything she could about healthily living, all the while studying to deepen her Catholic faith.

When duties did not tie her down, Mom would never let a good cause go by.  She volunteered for the Church Altar Society, cleaning church and making sure there were flowers.  She volunteered as the School Nurse at Sacred Heart School in Gervais when her sons attended there.  She served for many years at the Salem Right to Life, fiercely defending the rights of the voiceless.  She learned to mold, paint and fire ceramics as a fundraiser.  From its inception, for at least a decade, she was among the chief cinnamon roll cooks at the Mount Angel Oktoberfest booth for Michael the Archangel and she always put in days of labor for the annual rummage sale, usually overseeing the plant sale area.

Margie was preceded in death by husband Joe, daughters Rita Reichenbach and Marie Fromherz, her brothers (John) Francis Mischel and Jim Mischel and her sister Catherine Nelke Gadeholt.  She is survived by her sons Allen Fromherz, Frank Fromherz, Louis Fromherz, John Fromherz, Paul Fromherz, and Matthew Fromherz, by daughters Rose Lucas, Barbara Guarracino, and Sylvia Sharp, eighteen grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

Rosary will be Friday, February 27th at 10:30am at St Vincent de Paul Church, 1010 Columbia St NE, Salem Oregon with Funeral Mass to follow at 11:00am.  Reception in the parish hall will follow the service.  Interment will be 2:30pm at St Paul's cemetery, Hobart Rd and James St, Silverton, Oregon.