Margie Anne Young Baybrook passed away peacefully Oct. 15, 2020, at her daughter's home in Hawaii Kai, Oahu. She was born Oct. 1, 1931, in Long Beach, CA. Her mother Lorene Bertram Gurney and her father Julius Raymond Young met in Oroville, CA, and moved to Long Beach where Margie and her brother Jay were born and raised. In 1949, Margie graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School and started college at the Bible Institute of Los Angeles, majoring in Christian Education and Music.
There she met George Baybrook, who swept her off her feet; they married in January 1951 and had two children, Rebecca and Stephen. Margie became a full-time minister's wife and mother, moving to Hilo where a third child, Grace, was welcomed into the family.
Margie managed the household as well as church music and ministry, as the family moved to Revere, MA (while George attended Gordon Theological Seminary) and then to UCC Churches in Waimea, Kauai; Wailuku, Maui and the Big Island.
She juggled all the demands of church life; of extensive family camping road trips; of living in older parsonages that often needed repairs; and of caring for horses, dogs and the occasional cat. She found a way to always have a welcome smile and gracious spirit for anyone who needed her.
Music was her God-given gift and she gave it freely with her voice and agile hands on piano and organ keyboards. She organized choirs, from small children to adults, bringing trained and amateur voices together in song. We remember her special music for countless Christmas and Easter pageants.
Only someone with Margie's organization skills could have handled so many roles so gracefully. In addition to being a mom and minister's wife, on Kauai she went back to school and got an LPN degree and license. On Maui, she worked as a Specialty Nurse and touched many people with her care and compassion.
Her daughter Grace helped add the role of Grandmother to Margie's many accomplishments when grandsons Mark and Jon Takamura were born. For them, Grandma's Christmas cookies were a prized centerpiece of each holiday for many, many years. In 2018, Brooks Takamura gave her the revered role of Great-Grandmother.
Margie always loved animals, especially horses and dogs. On Maui, in the 1970s, she started breeding cocker spaniels, mastered the complexities of genetic traits and bloodlines, and applied her nursing skills to being a cocker spaniel midwife. Over the years, she produced six cocker spaniel AKC champions including a Best-in-Show winner for the State of Hawaii. But most of all, she relished the warm, sweet nature of the breed so much like her own personality.
Margie is survived by her three children, Rebecca M. Baybrook of Kamuela, Hawaii; Stephen R. Baybrook of Hilo, Hawaii; and Grace L. Takamura of Hawaii Kai, Oahu, and her two sons, Mark Takamura and his partner Jani Mishima of Honolulu, and Jon Takamura and his wife Adrie and their son Brooks of Houston, TX.
George W. Baybrook, Margie's husband of more than 60 years, died in 2018.
Margie was a devoted Christian who walked her faith every day with everyone around her. Her sincere prayer for the future was to see less selfishness and more giving; for everyone to keep their word and treat each other with honesty and concern.
Gifts in lieu of flowers may be made to Kalihikiola Church, P.O. Box 159, Kapaau, HI 96755 or to your local SPCA.
Services will be held at Kalahikiola Church, Kohala, Hawaii on a date to be determined.
Arrangements Provided By: Nuuanu Memorial Park & Mortuary LLC
