July 5th, 1871 - October 3rd, 1958

She is a Cancer.

Marion Estelle Kenyon was the daughter of John Martin Stauffer (1837 - 1888), an editor, and Martha Jane Alberson (1841 - 1938). Both her parents hailed from Pennsylvania and had married around the 1865. She had 7 known siblings: Etta May (1866 - 1950; later Mrs. Elmer Thomas Massie), Anna Rose (1868 - 1870), Grace Salome (1873 - 1967; later Mrs. Charles Edward Davis), Maud Valerie (1876 - 1980; later Mrs. George Partidge) Baldwin), Carl Martin (1879 - 1882), Earl John (1884 - 1939), and Frances Elisabeth (1887 - 1889). Marion appears on the 1880 census living with her father in 1888, Marion moved to Omaha, Nebraska with a friend to work in a millinery shop.

While working, Marion met and married on February 8th, 1898 in Manhattan to New York born Alfred Meinberg (born 1860) and possibly lived in Chicago, Illinois. She is known to have lived there Hyde Park Town as a boarder alongside Grace and it would appear that Marion was divorced within the next few years. Following her divorce, Etta moved to Chicago and worked as a secretary. But it's not known whether or not Marion felt it necessary to work; she possibly drew alimony. Maud also soon arrived in New York to study piano and voice. Marion at some point met Michigan born Charles Stuart and they married on March 19th, 1902 but soon found this marriage failed and they soon divorced. Her next suitor was Frederick Roland Kenyon (born 1871), a Connecticut-born steel magnate whom she met when she was living in Philadelphia where Grace and her husband Charles Davis were living, and they were wed in Washington. DC on April 11th, 1904. Frederick was involved with the West Leechburg Steel Company in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and the Kenyons settled there in an apartment. They also had a holiday home in Noank, Connecticut. The 1910 census shows the couple living with Frederick's widowed mother and unmarried brother in Southington.

Aboard Titanic/April 14th-15th, 1912:
In early 1912, the Kenyons had been on vacation in Paris and Panama and were returning to their home aboard Titanic which they boarded at Southampton as first class passengers. Among their party aboard were Margaret Swift and Alice Leader. On the night of the sinking, Marion and Frederick had retired for the night were preparing for bed when an impact occurred. They redressed and went up on deck where Marion escaped in lifeboat 8. She asked Frederick to follow her but he refused, preferring to stay aboard until all women and children were accounted for. He was lost in the sinking and his body, if recovered, was never identified.

She later described her time in the lifeboat and recalled that the crewman were inexperienced and that she and other ladies helped to man the oars during the night. During the voyage, Marion was pregnant with her first child but delivered a stillborn child soon following the disaster.

After The Sinking/Later Life/Death:
Following the disaster, Marion moved west to California where Etta and Grace lived. She was remarried in Santa Monica in December 24th, 1916 to Owen Albert Williams (1885 - 1944) of Noank, Connecticut, a friend of Frederick and who worked in the lumber trade in New York. They settled in Santa Monica and we're still living there together by the time of the 1920 census but were later divorced and Marion was living with her mother and Dr. Grace Davis by the time of the 1930 census, having reverted to the name of Kenyon and by the 1940 census she and Grace were living in Santa Monica.

Marion died on October 3rd, 1958 at the age of 87 at Arizona Avenue, Santa Monica, California and was interred at Woodlawn Mausoleum with Etta Massie.

Rest In Peace Marion Estelle Kenyon.