By Lauren FitzPatrick
Staff writer
Marjorie Ryan so loved history that she threw herself into the rich historical tradition sitting right in her Pullman back yard.
Mrs. Ryan lived nearly 60 of her 82 years in the community and spent her time fighting to maintain the character of the erstwhile factory town on Chicago’s South Side and to educate new generations about Pullman’s role in the city’s development.
“Pullman was very important to Marge,” said her longtime friend Billie Wunder Chiagouris, who often sat next to her during services at Pullman’s Greenstone United Methodist Church. “The church especially was very important to Marge.”
Mrs. Ryan died Dec. 16 at age 82.
“We did tours, and she was wonderful at taking children’s groups,” her husband, George Ryan, said of the couple’s involvement, which included the Pullman Civic organization, the Historic Pullman Foundation and committees at their church, he said. “She was always with the children because she was so good with them.”
Born January 24, 1922, in Harvey, Marjorie Charleston was the elder of two sisters. She married Walter Harrison and they two children, but he died when he was in his 40s, leaving her a young widow.
She decided to buy a house a few blocks from where she and her husband had been renting a home, and became the neighbor of George Ryan, the grandson of a German immigrant whom the Pullman company had transferred to Chicago to work as a cabinetmaker.
The pair would marry soon afterward.
“I thought I was chasing her, but she was reeling me in,” he said. “It was a wonderful time.”
Ryan was a 48-year-old bachelor when he fell for the widow with two teenagers.
“Some people would say it wouldn’t work,” he said.
But it did. And Mr. and Mrs. Ryan spent many of their 36 years together preserving Pullman, the historic district that still has about 1,000 original residential structures and significant public buildings dating to the 1880s and 1890s.
Mrs. Ryan worked as a secretary for the Pullman Civic organization, which was set up to keep Pullman’s homes from being replaced by an industrial park.
There, she helped keep the books for some of the renovations and and made sure workers were paid. She could talk to anyone, Chiagouris said.
“She was very good at communicating,” her friend of more than 40 years said.
“I’ve never seen Marge mad — only once I saw her get her dander up.”
Mrs. Ryan was also a loyal member of Greenstone United Methodist church for 50 years and served as a longtime chairwoman of the Trustees Committee.
“She got so involved with that church,” he husband said. “As people moved and ministers changed, she was the one constant there.”
Chiagouris said Mrs. Ryan was always willing to pitch in.
“She was real active,” Chiagouris said. “She volunteered whenever you needed her.”
Mrs. Ryan’s service didn’t stop at tours. She organized dinners and even sewed drapes for the Hotel Florence, the elegant hotel George Pullman named for this daughter and which is now being renovated.
“It’s going to be a very difficult time for our church to get along without her,” she said.
Mrs. Ryan is also survived by a son, Robert Harrison; a daughter, Susan Buckingham; two grandchildren; a great-grandson; a sister, Carolyn Hilgart; and many friends.
Arrangements are by Panozzo Brothers Funeral Home, (708) 481-9230.
Mrs. Ryan’s wishes were for a private cremation. A memorial visitation is planned for 1 p.m. on Jan. 30 at Greenstone United Methodist Church at 11211 S. St. Lawrence Ave., Chicago, followed by a service at 2 p.m.
Memorial gifts to the Greenstone United Methodist Church or the Historic Pullman Foundation would be appreciated.
Lauren FitzPatrick may be reached at lfitzpatrick@dailysouthtown.com or (708) 633-5964.
