Father Ralph Waldo Hennings, Mother: Esther Mildred Kuntz. Sisters Barbara Bee and Merva Kay Hennings (see memorial 134156661). Husband: Garland L Holt Jr. Son: Jonathan Kelso Holt, grandchild: Emma.

Marji’s story is not easy to tell. But I will try.

Actually her legal name was Marguerite Ellen Hennings. But she exchanged first names with a cousin in her teen age years and became known as Marji. That was her choice and I will follow it here.

She was the oldest of three girls born to Ralph Waldo Hennings and Esther Mildred Kuntz on the 5th of Feb 1941 in Evanston Ill. The family moved to Southern California a few years later.

Marji went to Torrance High School in downtown Torrance CA. After a 9 month visit to her grandmother’s place in Illinois after graduation from High school she returned to Torrance and signed up at El Camino College. El Camino College was then known as a Jr. College as it only had two years of the college level. Nowadays they term it as a Community College. This would be about the school year of 1960-61 I think. She wanted to be an underwater photographer. However, she had ear problems and it turned out she could not follow this field. Actually, Marji was interested in nearly every- and anything and had problems focusing on any one field. I liked that in her.

I met Marji one day at the local bus stop although she was taking a different bus than I was, as her parents lived in what was known as Hollywood Riviera, a high class area in the south of Torrance. I lived in the Walteria area somewhat east of Hollywood Riviera although both of us were now going to El Camino College. To make a very long story short, we fell in love. We even wrote nearly every day the following year when my family moved to Montana.

When I returned to California to go to Long Beach State, we again took up our relationship and even become engaged. However, the engagement was broken the following year. Marji had too many interests and I found it hard to keep up with her activities and go to college. Our worlds were too different.

I do not know what happened to her in the following years but in 1969 after I had graduated and was working full time, we connected again and were married on May 1st 1969. It was a happy marriage even with her wide range of interests and her tendency to “adopt” friends. That was the way Marji was. A son, Jonathan Kelso Holt, was born in 1990. But within the next 5 years our areas of involvement become too different to have a happy relationship. We were divorced. But we remained friends and jointly parented our son. I remarried.

In time Marji and Jon moved out of the southern California area to central California as the living for her and Jon was better there and they were near her parents. After Jon graduated from High School he moved in with me and my second wife to go to college. His mother was still much involved in her many interests such as Science Fiction and glass craft. However, she was taking care of others and not her own health. She smoked much although she tried to cut back. But it was just too much. Our son Jon found she died on the first of March 2007. It was connected to her smoking and her not taking care of herself. Her ashes were scattered in a park in Solvang CA that was selected by our son, and I concurred with him. This park was a wonderful choice as it has many trees, flowers and birds. Things she loved dearly.

I would say Marji was like a butterfly going from flower to flower in order to drink up the sweet juice of her many interests. It was impossible for her to keep tied down to one subject for very long. She just had to go check out the flowers in the next field. That was both a strong point for her and her weakness. But she was loved for it by many. Sadly, she never knew her grandchild Emma. Emma looks much like her with her hair and eyes. She would have loved Emma.

By Garland Holt

Note: If you have information, photos or memories that you would like to contribute to this memorial, please contact Garland Holt.