Marcia Elizabeth Hoover
With sad hearts, we announce the death of our mother, Marcia Elizabeth Hoover at age 79. Marcia was born on January 10, 1941 in Spokane, Washington.
She is the daughter of Clara Heien Melville and John Henry Melville, and grew up in Eastern Washington on her family’s ranch in Sprague and Lamont, WA, established in the 1880’s.
Marcia attended St. Paul’s School, a boarding school, and Whitman College, both in Walla Walla, WA, and was a classically trained pianist. During her summers from college, Marcia worked at Yellowstone National Park and for the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair for which the Space Needle was built. Marcia’s job at the fair was introducing people to vending machines.
Shortly after graduating from the University of Washington, Marcia (a lifelong liberal Democrat) met her husband John Charles Hoover at a Young Republicans meeting. She and John were happily married for over 20 years, raising three daughters. In addition to being a parent, Marcia sold real estate at John L. Scott in the 1970’s and 80’s.
After John died suddenly in 1988, Marcia earned a master’s degree in counseling from Antioch University in Seattle and relished her career as a therapist providing compassionate and sage advice at Valley Cities in Auburn, WA.
Marcia also volunteered at the Seattle Crisis Clinic (now called Crisis Connections), providing 24-hour mental health assistance for people in crisis. In 2008, she married a fellow Whitman College alumni and widower Roger Thordarson.
Marcia has regularly been compared to the actress Diane Keaton, because of both her similar tall elegant looks and her witty and somewhat quirky personality.
She is survived by her three children, Meredith Elizabeth Hoover of Seattle, Annabelle Elizabeth Hoover (spouse
Alan Straub) of Bainbridge Island and Hilary Elizabeth Hoover (spouse Darren Vengroff ) of South Orange, NJ, her 4 grandchildren, Atticus, Zoe, Nel and Vivienne, her sister- in-law Shirley Melville of Lamont, WA, numerous nieces
and nephews, and her very best friends Linda Sprenger of Auburn, WA and Christine Eccleston of Seattle, WA.
She is preceded in death by her husbands, John Hoover and Roger Thordarson, her two brothers, John Henry Melville II and James Curtis Melville, and her third best friend, Janet Langford. Marcia, Janet and Linda were champion wallpaper- ers in the 1970’s.
Marcia will be sorely missed. She loved reading, her family and friends, the Seattle and Auburn Symphonies, and rooting for Elizabeth Warren.
Marcia experienced a stroke while on a cruise in Panama, followed by a diagnosis of Parkinson’s Plus Syndrome. She died on May 7, 2020 at the Madrona House on Bainbridge Island, which provided her wonderful care during the last year of her life. In lieu of flowers, contributions to Crisis Connections are appreciated. www.crisisconnections.org/ donate/
