Springfield – Marjorie Belle Ingram (Margie Belle) 97, of Springfield passed away peacefully on Tuesday, December 8, 2020.

Margie Belle was born on September 7, 1923 in Springfield.  She graduated from High School in Springfield and attended Springfield Teachers College (MSU).

Margie Belle had a successful career later in life; however, the real joy of her life was raising her three children, and the close relationship that she shared with her parents.  Margie Belle loved watching her children and their friends play whatever sport was in season in their back yard.

In the late fifties the family bought a small resort in Branson, MO overlooking Lake Taneycomo and Margie Belle ran the resort which operated from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend which was then the extent of the tourist season in Branson, and corresponded with the school year in Springfield.

After her children got older, Margie Belle began her career as the first fund raising campaign director at ARC under the direction of Winston Bledsoe.  She then was hired as the campaign director for the American Heart Association of Southwest Missouri.

In 1980 Margie Belle was hired as the AARP project director for the Senior community service employment program helping seniors with job training and placement in order to help them improve their lives.  Margie Belle was very successful in her position as project director and took great pride and joy in helping the hundreds, if not thousands, of senior citizens improve their lives.  Margie Belle served as the AARP Project Director for over twenty years, retiring at the young age of 78.

Throughout her life, Margie Belle loved going to lunch at the Shady Inn where she enjoyed the company of a group of friends who shared her love for lunch at the Shady.

Margie Belle was preceded in death by her parents:  Earl F. Collison and Cornelia Collison; her son Danny; and her husband Harold.  Survivors include her son Mike and his wife Barbara, her daughter Mary, Grandchildren Michael and his wife Jessica, Natalie Fieldler and her husband John as well as five great-grand children:  Berkely and Lillian Belle Ingram and Emily Ann, John Michael and Elizabeth Ann Fieldler.

A Celebration of Life will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Monday, December 14, 2020 at Palmetto Cemetery under the direction of Gorman-Scharpf Funeral Home.