Obituary of Margo V. House

DELMAR - Margo Vorys House of Delmar, NY, died peacefully at home on April 27, 2016, surrounded by her family. Marguerite (Margo) Ottilie Vorys was born on August 1, 1928, in Columbus, Ohio, the daughter of Webb Isaiah and Adeline Werner Vorys. She grew up in Columbus and Gahanna, Ohio, graduating from the Columbus School for Girls. She earned her BA in Art History at Bryn Mawr College and her MS in Marriage and Family Counseling at the University of Wisconsin-Stout. She taught in a one-room country school, ran a preschool in her home, and later taught college English with a passion for helping students learn to look beneath the surface, read deeply, and write articulately and with rigor about what they read. In the 1960s, she was instrumental in bringing Conductive Education, an innovative and holistic therapy for children with Cerebral Palsy. Adventurer, visionary, fount of wisdom, spiritual seeker, fierce advocate for justice, leader, teacher, artist, sage - these qualities fueled her life, work, and travel. After moving to Michigan's Garden Peninsula in 1980 and discovering the economic instability of many Upper Peninsula residents, she observed local cooperatives while on a trip to India. She and a friend established the Village Artisans, a local artisans' cooperative, which inspired people to harness their creative power to earn some additional income. Passionate about learning, she donated a library to Garden, Michigan. A powerful advocate for feminism, she helped usher in the women's movement in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, where she filled her living room in the 1970s with consciousness-raising groups and organizational meetings. She helped empower women's voices by teaching assertiveness training to legions of women. She served as the first state president of the National Organization for Women in Wisconsin and later was a part of organizing the Wisconsin Feminist Projects Fund, which was instrumental in working with state officials to open traditionally male jobs to women. She was a passionate supporter of women's right to control their own health care decisions. Around the dining room table, she taught her five children - Henry, Jeanny, Sam, Pat, and Helen - to engage the world around them in deep and powerful ways. She taught them how to listen to others, to the guiding voice of their spirits, to be interested in and curious about other people and the world around them. Each of them continues to embody those values and to make them the center of their work in the world. Her children said about her, "Margo is, was, and always will be about the experience. She was completely committed to all her children experiencing life to the fullest and having as many rich and full experiences as life has to offer. When we were kids she wanted us to go camping and explore nature and go skinny dipping at our cottage in Georgian Bay, Ontario. She wanted us to travel, to see the world, and to experience art and culture. She was fiercely loving, passionately engaged with life, willing to laugh and be irreverent one moment, while striking with the sword of truth in the next. Playing a board game or a card game with her was not for the weak of heart, for she would play not just to win, but to obliterate you." She was preceded in death by her parents, two brothers (John Werner Vorys and Arthur Isaiah Vorys), and several cousins. She is survived by her children, - Henry (Karen) Kimsey-House, Jeanny Vorys House, Sam House (Heather Diddel), Pat Carrington-House, Helen House (Robert Michalac); her grandchildren - Emily House, Nathaniel (Alexandra) Millar-House, Isaiah Farley, Mady Farley, and Connor Carrington-House; and by the many cousins, nieces, nephews, dear friends, and people who carry the impact of her leadership as part of who they are. A service of thanksgiving for and celebration of her life will be held at Unity Church in Albany, 21 King Avenue, Albany, NY on Wednesday, May 4, 2016 at 3:00 p.m. In lieu of flowers, please consider a memorial contribution to Planned Parenthood (https://www.plannedparenthood.org) or Georgian Bay Forever (http://georgianbayforever.org), a land trust whose mission it is to protect her beloved Georgian Bay ecosystem.