Marjorie “Marj” Awalt

AUGUSTA – Marjorie “Marj” Awalt, 89, of Augusta, died peacefully at home with her loving family by her side on Saturday, Sept. 23, 2023.

She was born in Farmington on Aug. 18, 1934, the daughter of Jessie and Elmira (Wheeler) Doyen. Marj graduated high school from the Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown, Mass., where she numbered among notable alumni like Helen Keller and Jean Sorel.

Marj attended Vermont Junior College in Montpelier, Vt. and graduated from Gordon College in Wenham, Mass. She completed her graduate work at the University of Pennsylvania and the Overbrook School for the Blind. She was hired by the Industrial Home for the Blind in New York City. The “little girl from rural Maine” lived in Brooklyn and navigated the bus system to get to appointments all over the city with nothing more to guide her than a sharp memory, a white cane, and courage.

Marj returned to Maine in 1966 to work for the state and help those without sight to live independent, productive, and fruitful lives. She became well-known as she traveled throughout Maine with her seeing eye dogs, first Tracy, then Doris, and finally Gail.

She met Hugh Awalt soon after coming home, and in 1967 they married in Bethel. Hugh was an ardent rally race driver with the Samoset Car Club, so Marj got involved. She would transcribe race directions into Braille, and became the navigator in their little Saab car. It was easy to identify by the license plate as they zipped by, “BLIND-1”.

Faith and music were central to her life. Marj was a member of Christ Episcopal Church in Gardiner where she sang in the choir and played with the bell ringers. You didn’t need to be around her for long before she would start singing a joyful noise.

Marj played a wicked game of cribbage with her “marked” braille cards and could handily skunk all comers with her eyes closed. She liked a good Manhattan, but she liked peanut butter ice cream more. Her mental GPS had every ice cream stand mapped in a 40-mile radius, but Deb’s in Randolph was her favorite.

The light in Marj shown brightly, and she attracted friends like sunlight attracting flowers. To go to the Common Ground fair with her was like traveling with the queen; you couldn’t walk 10 steps without running into someone who knew her. She remembered them all, and now we remember her.

She was predeceased by her parents; her sister, Connie; nephew EW; and her husband of 53 years.

Marj is survived by her niece, Rachael Hindman, and nephews John, Lee, and Mark Hindman and also Michael, Peter, and Steven Mclaughlin.

Services will be held at a date and time to be announced.

Arrangements are entrusted with Staples Funeral Home and Cremation Care, 53 Brunswick Ave., in Gardiner. Condolences, memories, and photos may be shared with the family on the obituary page of the Staples Funeral Home website, http://www.staplesfuneralhome.com.

In lieu of flowers please consider a charitable donation in Marj’s name to Guiding Eyes for the Blind, which provides guide dogs to people with vision loss. https://www.guidingeyes.org/