Marjorie Ann Sagiao's Obituary
Margie was born in San Diego, in what is now Mercy Hospital, on February 18th, 1915, the first child of Charles and Nellie Schindler. Her brother Amby followed in 1917, and her sister Charlotte came along in 1919.Margie grew up in Golden Hill, where she played softball as a girl, as well as basketball and tennis. She took dancing lessons, and loved swimming. She ran track and competed in the broad jump.She took the trolley to the First Methodist church at 25th and Market streets with her brother and sister in tow when they were 10, 8, and 6 years old. San Diego was a small town back then, and everyone knew who they were. She and her brother and sister would ride the trolleys, row to Coronado and back, go to Balboa Park and the zoo. One of her fondest childhood memories was that of the local beat cop telling her, “Marjorie Ann, take your brother and sister and go on home, it’s getting dark!”Margie went to Sherman Grammar School, Memorial Junior High School, Woodrow Wilson Junior High School, Hoover High School for the 10th grade, and graduated from San Diego High School (with Gregory Peck, among others,) in 1933.When Margie was a teenager, the Depression came-something that was so hard, she didn’t like to talk about it, except to say that she had fond memories of her father playing a fiddle and dancing a jig in the kitchen, and that he never did it again after the depression hit. The family survived by downsizing, selling off equipment and mules. They never went hungry, but life was never to be the same.Margie was married at 19 to James S. Carlyle. Together they had three children, James, Bonnie and Robert. They belonged to the Yacht Club and learned to sail, which the whole family enjoyed. Later in life, Margie met and married Nepo Sagiao, a career Marine originally from American Samoa. She followed Nepo to numerous duty stations in the continental United States and Hawaii. They resettled in San Diego in the late ‘60s at the house on Parrot St. According to Margie at her recent 102nd birthday celebration, “I had a good life in the Marine Corps, and Nepo was a kind and loving man.” Nepo passed away in 1983, and Margie loved him till the end of her life.Margie was always active in family life. She took care of her grandchildren, and as her younger sister Charlotte’s health declined, Margie lovingly cared for her for many years. Other family members benefited from her gentle care as well. People who met Margie were taken by her friendly and engaging personality, as well her generous spirit. Many of her grandchildren will tell you that their friends who knew Margie considered her their “G-ma.”In her senior years, Margie traveled extensively. She tried traveling with senior tour groups, but complained that there were too many “old people.” She walked three miles a day, and attended strength training classes well into her 90’s. She loved the camaraderie of the “younger” ladies in her exercise classes, but ended up outliving most of them.In later years, Margie lived with her daughter Bonnie, who organized her care and helped her daily for the last nine years of her life.For the last few years, Margie enjoyed a wonderful relationship with her in-home caregivers Mireille Cauldren and Sheri Howard. Along with home care, they would go out to lunch, watch the surf at the O.B. pier, and shop for trinkets at Charming Charlies, among other activities. Mireille stayed on a year and a half past her planned retirement, just to be with Margie. After two days in hospice care, Margie passed peacefully in her sleep on Thursday, March 16, one month after her 102nd birthday celebration.
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