Marjorie Verner

Marjorie Verner died on Sunday morning October 21 from complications of chronic Parkinson’s disease at the Oakwood Nursing Home in Bay Minette. She was born Marjorie Juanita Rieben on September 6, 1932 in Bay Minette, Alabama. She was the daughter of Nora Duck and Beverly Foster Rieben. Marjorie lived the first eighteen years of her life in the Crossroads community in Baldwin County. She is a graduate of the Class of 1950 of Baldwin County High School, and was an active member at Durant Chapel Baptist Church. Her ambition in life was to be a missionary, and toward that goal after High School she was a nursing student at the Mather School of Nursing in New Orleans, La. It was there she met her husband to be, Walter Eugene Verner, who was a seminary student at the time. After completing her training as an RN, Marjorie married Gene Verner on May 3, 1954 and attended classes at NOBTS. After living in Bay Minette, the couple were commissioned as missionaries by the Southern Baptist Convention and in 1958 went to Ghana, West Africa on a freighter. The couple were instrumental in the founding of the Ghana Baptist Seminary in Abuakwa where Marjorie combined roles of school nurse, teacher, children’s ministry, home school teacher, wife and mother. Missions activities included prison ministry, volunteer nursing, WMU work, and more. Marjorie and her husband retired in 1993 at which time she completed her B.S. in nursing at the University of Southern Mississippi and William Carey College. Afterwards Marjorie and Gene retired to Fairhope, Alabama where they were faithful members of First Baptist Church of Fairhope. Marjorie taught a ladies Sunday School class for twenty one years and was active in sharing God’s love through mission presentations, bible studies, hospital “goodie” bags and home-made jams. Marjorie was preceded in death by her parents and brothers Albert and Everett Rieben.She is survived by her husband Walter Verner, her son “Kwasi” Daryl, her daughter Robbie Wood (Richard), her sister June Windham (A.V.) and her brother Ray Rieben. She lived a long and good life. She was a witness for her Lord helping many people both in Ghana and this country. She will be missed but not forgotten. Funeral services will be held Saturday, November 3, 2018, at Wolfe-Bayview Funeral Home, Fairhope, at 10:00 a.m. The family will begin receiving friends at 9:00 a.m. until time of service. Interment will follow in Memory Gardens of Fairhope. In lieu of flowers, the family is requesting that donations be made to First Baptist Church for the Brazil Missions Designated Fund or for Mrs. Verner’s Sunday School Class for their mission efforts. Contact: First Baptist Church, 300 South Section Street, Fairhope, AL, 36532 : Phone - 251.928.8685   ARRANGEMENTS BY WOLFE-BAYVIEW FUNERAL HOMES & CREMATORY, INC. 19698 GREENO RD FAIRHOPE, AL 36532 (251) 990-7775