Marjorie Burgard born in Massachusetts on April 26, 1929 to Russell Dean and Dorothy Adelaide Rainsford, Marj passed away gently on September 16, 2022. She was 93. Marj attended the Spence School in New York City and graduated from Derby Academy in Hingham, MA in 1947 where she excelled in team sports.

Marj married Herbert Burbridge in 1948 and had four children. Living in Cohasset, she created a swimming program that earned her a reputation as "the swimming lady," but she is more aptly remembered as an institution. Teaching countless Cohasset kids to swim, she was also pivotal in developing, supporting, and coaching the Cohasset Swim Team.

In 1966, she married Arthur Martin and they combined their families, raising a total of nine children ranging in age from 5 to 22. Arthur, a naval architect, designed the Alden Ocean Shell, the first recreational rowing shell, an innovation for which he was later inducted into the U.S. National Rowers Hall of Fame. Together, they built the Martin Marine Company and by fostering a lifestyle of health, exercise, and coastal exploration, they spawned a new, increasingly popular sport in this country. Based out of Kittery Point, Maine, they not only produced a fleet of rowing boats capable of handling rougher water but also were passionate about teaching others to row with grace and confidence. They contributed to the development of Adaptive Rowing which has since made rowing available to many people who would not otherwise be able to enjoy the water. Marj and Arthur loved cruising their treasured Maine coast in their Aldens and in the Energy 48, a larger vessel designed by Arthur for this purpose.

Marj joined the New England Masters Swim Team at age 50 and immediately made a big splash. She made the top 10 in the U.S. in every stroke, every year, for a decade. A dauntless competitor who relished pushing herself, she went on to become a repeated national and international gold medalist in Masters rowing. She competed into her 80s and didn't stop rowing until she was 90.

Arthur Martin died in 1990. Eight years later, Marj married Ralph Burgard, an educator and advocate for arts programs, who shared her curiosity about the world as well as her zeal for rowing and racing.

Marj's life took her in a gentle arc from Cohasset, MA, up to Kittery Point, Maine for several decades, and south to Beaufort, North Carolina to be closer to her children. Returning to Massachusetts with Ralph, they happily settled into The Village at Duxbury. Wherever Marj lived, she quickly developed deep and rich community. Marj had huge energy and an equally boundless heart. At The Village, she took art classes for the first time at 80 and began painting watercolors that made the natural world come alive. Encouraged by a writing class, she published "Water, Water, Everywhere: A Memoir" in 2020.

She is preceded in death by her husbands, her eldest son, Russell D. Burbridge, and her brother Gifford Dean. She is survived by her three children, William Burbridge and his two daughters, Hali and Liah Burbridge, of Beaufort, NC, Dianne "Dizy" Brown her two sons Martin and Christopher Brown, also of Beaufort, NC, and son Richard Burbridge and wife Alise Burbridge, and their two daughters Jessica and Nicole of Hingham, MA. Marj, never one to do anything by half, loved every member of her sprawling Burbridge-Martin-Burgard family. At the time of her death, she had 23 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren.

Please join family and friends for A Celebration of Life on 10/05/2022 at 12:00 noon. It will be held at The Village of Duxbury 290 Kingstown Way, Duxbury, MA 02332. A light luncheon will be served, all are welcome. Please wear a mask.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation in Marj's name to US Adaptive Rowing/US Rowing, 252 Nassau Street, Princeton, NJ 08542.

www.usrowing.org