Marjorie Jean Major was born on February 17, 1924, in Forty Fort, Pa., and died at the Wake Robin community in Shelburne, Vt., on October 5, 2025. She was 101 years old.
Marjorie was raised in Chatham, N.J., but her happiest childhood days were spent with her beloved cousins at the Yerkes family farms in Bucks County, Pa. She remained close to her 31 first cousins and extended family throughout her life. As a child Marjorie studied piano and violin, which fostered a lifelong love of music.
In 1944, Marjorie became one of the first women to graduate from Rutgers University with a degree in engineering. Due to wartime manpower requirements, she took an accelerated program and completed her degree in three years. After graduation, she worked at Bell Laboratories in war research. While at Bell Labs, she met and married Frank Goss, a fellow engineer.
In 1946, she and Frank created Contemporary Ceramics Ltd., a pottery manufacturing business specializing in dinnerware and specialty ceramic decorative items (including the Alfred E. Neuman busts sold by Mad magazine in the 1960s), which remain collectible to this day. Under the name Chatham Potters, they later added a retail store to the pottery, an early example of the factory outlet store.
In 1966, the family moved to a large farm in East Charlotte, Vt., and she became the farmer she always dreamed she would be. In the following years she became an advocate for environmentally sensitive land use and planning.
After her divorce from Frank, she spent several years with Green Mountain Meadows, a property development company, eventually serving as its president. She subsequently worked for the Garden Way company, and later became the U.S. representative of Waterford Stoves of Ireland.
In the mid-1980s, she designed and built a home on part of the original farm and ran a herd of grass-fed beef. She became president of the Vermont Beef Producers Association and remained active until retirement in 2004, when she moved to South Burlington. She received awards for her work in sustainable agriculture and promotion of small farms and farming.
Marjorie was a lifelong outdoorswoman, enjoying hiking, mountain climbing, skiing and camping (with six children, often in the rain). She loved to travel and in her later years spent many happy times visiting with friends and family in the U.S. and Europe. In 2016, she moved to Wake Robin in Shelburne, where she enjoyed working in the woodworking shop as well as playing in the handbell choir and making maple syrup.
She will always be remembered for her indomitable spirit and energy. Indeed, it was said that she “was a force of Nature and always took the path less traveled.”
She leaves her children, Jacqueline Goss, Stephen Goss, Deborah Goss, Meredith Mangan (deceased), Terrill Murphy and Duncan Goss; eight grandchildren; and (so far) eight great-grandchildren.
Donations in her memory may be made to the Vermont Youth Orchestra or a charity of choice. Please visit awrfh.com to share your memories and condolences.
This article appears in The Tech Issue 2025.