Good friends gathered at the Scottish Home in North Riverside Sept. 13 to celebrate the 90th birthday of Riversider Marjorie Whitney Prass.

“Marjorie was just glowing,” said Addie Hough Wallace of Downing Road. “Marjorie wore a purple leisure suit and looked wonderful.”

Also at the gathering was her friend of many years, Riversider Clara Lewe Gubbins, who also is enjoying living at the Scottish Home.

“Marjorie Whitney and I lived near each other when we were about 6 years old. She lived on Nuttall Road and I lived just around the corner on Bartram. We’ve been friends ever since.”

An accomplished musician, her first achievement came when she was in the eighth grade at Central School. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra gave concerts in District 96 programs known as “Little Symphony.” Marjorie was chosen to perform with the Little Symphony as an outstanding eighth-grader, the first girl to perform with this group.

A graduate of Riverside Brookfield High School, she was salutatorian for her graduating class of 1935.

Encouraged by her parents, Marjorie excelled in piano, but her first love was dance. Her mother created many of her costumes, especially those used in her ballet performances and the special Spanish and Oriental creations. Having earned a degree from the University of Chicago in Medieval, Modern European and American history, she worked her knowledge of history into her theatrical performances.

She and her husband, Norman, enjoyed traveling and what she called “exploring.” His avocation was photography. Several of his photographs of Marjorie as “the dancer” were displayed on the photo board at the party. Among her treasures are some of her costumes, finger cymbals, castanets, tambourines, and tinkling ankle and neck bells.

A beautiful lady, she served on the Chicago Dance Council and, in the 1940s, volunteered with the Dance for Victory Committee. She has been active in the Friends of the Library and served as secretary on the staff of the Riverside Public Library. She also has been an active member of the Riverside Presbyterian Church, and a member of the first group of women to be ordained as deacons of the church. She is a longtime member of the American Association of University Women.

Because she is so artistic, she recalls picking flowers and creating bouquets she took to Hines and other veterans’ hospitals in the Chicago area. Like her mother, she loved to garden, although she admits, “I am a weed puller and flower picker more than a planter.”

Although Marjorie had no children, she did influence her two nieces, Kathy Whitney and Peach Young, to follow in their aunt’s footsteps. Kathy became a pianist and Peach became a dancer. Both flew north from their homes in Florida to join in the birthday celebration.

Others attending the party included Michael and Roberta Gates, Dorothy Jansky, Thea Kiwiet, Linda Kowalik, and Rick and Jan Martin, Albertia McCabe, Julie Moore, Sanlee Radigan, Sylvia Schade, Joan Shurtleff, Marilyn Slanec and Carol Sprunger.
 
Riversider still excels in arts

Suzanne A. Shields, mezzo-soprano, daughter of Trustee Thomas Shields and his wife, Nicoline, has captured an Eleanor Pearce Sherwin scholarship award of $1,500. A graduate of Illinois Wesleyan University and the University of Cincinnati, she studies with Inci Bashar.

Shields has won a number of awards and scholarships, including the Farwell Award of the Musicians Club of Women, Chicago.

At 11, she was the Singing Page in Lyric Opera’s “Rigoletto.” As a teenager, she presented roles at Lyric and Ravinia. In addition to her operatic experience at universities, she has been a member of Operafestival di Roma, Chicago Opera Theater, the Chamber Opera of Chicago and the Grant Park Chorus.