With great sadness our family has said goodbye one last time to Marj Early so that she could join the awesome artists of the world that preceded her.  She passed away at the Hospice House on Wednesday morning after a long illness. Marj was born in 1926 to parents Herschell and Jane and was raised with two older sisters Ruthie and Martha and brother John in Indianapolis, Indiana. Her brother John taught her to drive at age 14, something she did until last December when she donated her car to charity.  She graduated from Broad Ripple High School in Indianapolis and then went to Butler University on a four year scholarship. She received a degree in journalism and was a member of the Alpha Chi Omega sorority. After the war, she married her high school sweet heart, a Marine named Chuck Early. They moved from Indianapolis to Jeffersonville, Indiana along the Ohio River and then to Dayton, Ohio near Wright Patterson air force base.  Following along with the space race, they then moved to Alamogordo, New Mexico, and on to Cape Canaveral, Florida and finally on to Santa Maria, California in 1959. They raised a son and daughter in Santa Maria where Marj began studying fine arts at Alan Hancock junior college under the tutelage of Art Murrow. 1968 saw another move to the bay area where they settled in Cupertino, CA. Marj continued her art education at De Anza College where she did amazing things with a spray gun and the acrylic medium.  She created quite a few sculptures that are still in the house today. In 1976 she separated from Chuck and decided that art wasn’t going to pay the rent so back to school she went and studied to be a paralegal. She worked at a small weekly newspaper while she was doing this until she got a job at Jack Coward’s law firm in Cupertino. She loved her work so much that she stayed at it and didn’t retire until she was 74 when she moved one last time to Eureka. She fell in love with the art community here and thoroughly enjoyed painting full time between trips to the beaches of the world.  She travelled to the Cook Islands, Kona, Oahu, Costa Rica and Mazatlan and painted most of the places she visited. She spent many vacations in Michigan with her sister Ruthie and nieces Jane and Jill Pallay. She and Jane were travelling buddies and they made many trips to different beaches around the world together. The sugar sand beaches of Michigan’s upper peninsula was one of her many joys. She must have visited every light house between Traverse City and Muskegon. She enjoyed many visits to friends Dick and Cheri there.

On one of her many fly fishing adventures she met Tom Roberts from Denver, Colorado and after a long distance romance she convinced him to move to Eureka and they were married at Arrington Apples in a beautiful ceremony.  They enjoyed many years living in Eureka and had many friends in the Representational Art League. Marj was thrilled to be invited to speak about the creative process in making art at the Morris Graves museum along with her many artist friends.  

Marj started fly fishing in her twenties and continued until well into her 80’s with her last adventure in Roseburg, OR fishing on the North Umpqua River in 2015.  Marj and Tom worked for many years in the co-op art gallery in Ferndale. She was really excited when she was invited to become a member of the Redwood Art Association.  She participated in quite a few the En Pleine events toting her easel and paints through large gardens in Bayside and to the cliffs in Trinidad.

In 2008 she fought a battle with lung cancer and won!  She survived with the help of St. Joseph’s oncology program and was a proud graduate of their radiation program.  Her husband Tom was at her side throughout the ordeal and was truly an inspiration to her. When her oncologist told her that her tumor was in remission and had shrunk, she said “All I want to do is paint.” And paint she did! This was her most prolific time of creating art and there are many friends and family that have her originals hanging in their houses. Marj’s paintings always evoked deep meaning. Her landscapes of the mountains, fly fishing, beaches, and even the light houses of Michigan make you feel like you are there.  Her final painting she worked on for the last couple of months is a moth floating in a summer breeze. She worked so hard to get the background colors just right, eliciting the comments of a fellow artist and incorporating the elements into her work. Her moth rests on her easel finished and framed only waiting for a name and to be hung where people can enjoy it.  

After Marj agreed with her doctor to sign on with Hospice she was still reading new books on watercolor techniques and was experimenting with painting techniques known as “paint yourself calm”.  The folks at Hospice were very accommodating and her help from Sarah, Fiona, Edgar and Harry were exceptional.

Marj didn’t want to have a celebration of life unless she was a part of it.  To that end she celebrated when she turned 85 thinking she was close to the end of her adventure, and then at 90 she threw another party at the Wharfinger Center for family and friends. Her favorite expression, even though she lived a great 92 years, was that “Life is too short” so don’t worry about the things that don’t matter and “Stop and Smell the Roses.”

Marj’s life was so great it is hard to encapsulate it in this tribute to her. Even though she wanted to be sports writer for the Indianapolis Star when she was out of college and was pretty much told only men could be sports writers, she made a much bigger mark in the world by being an artist.  Viewing her studio with her easel, painting apron, paints and brushes makes a person say “wow, so this is where all these beautiful works of art come from”. Her last days were spent with so many phone calls from her artist friends and so many people brought things to the house to help her out. The family is so grateful for the caring that all her friends showed her. She was an amazing woman and we think all would agree. Nothing could a bigger smile on her face than to create art.

She is survived by her loving husband Tom Roberts and his large Colorado family including daughter Gena, daughter Biama and husband Jay and their children and grand children, her son Mark and daughter in law Rhonda, daughter Susan, grandson Justin and wife Jasmine, great grand daughter Kaitlyn, grandson Ryan and husband Tyler, nephews Rick and Bill Arzet of Georgia, niece Barbara Arzet Pike of Minesota, Cousin Tracy Cooley of Winterport, Maine, good friends Barbara, Huey, Carmen and Jim, Michel and Sydney, neighbors Rick and Jean, friends Kathy and Jack, Ann, Peggy, Michelle, Shelly, Michael and so many more. She leaves behind so many friends and neighbors that she cared for in her large art family.

In lieu of flowers please consider a donation to Hospice of Humboldt. A celebration of life will be planned at a future date.

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The obituary above was submitted on behalf of Marj’s family. The Lost Coast Outpost runs obituaries of Humboldt County residents at no charge. See guidelines here.