Marjorie "Margie" Mae Kosky

Written by daughter, Cheri Wilson Pride.

Marjorie Mae ‘Margie’ Chamness was born in Bearcreek, Montana on April 19, 1930, to Charles and Lotta (Heaven) Chamness. A daughter Alice Ann (San) was born two years before Margie, and Inabel was born two years after Margie. When the girls were still quite young, the family packed up and left Montana, along with the family goat in the back seat. They moved to the outskirts of Arlington, Washington, where they rented a dairy farm across from the Jordan swinging bridge. The farm is now the site of Jordan River Trails. Margie did not care for farm life; she preferred the inside housework and looked forward to growing up and getting away from the farm. Margie graduated from Arlington High School in 1948.

The three pretty daughters did not lack for attention from the boys and soon after graduation they were all married. Margie married Morgan ‘Gene’ Wilson in 1948 and gave birth to Dennis in 1949 and Cheri in 1951. Her sisters also gave birth to their firstborn children within months of each other, and to make life even more interesting, their mother also had a baby boy, Jim, the last of Margie’s siblings, about the same time.

In 1952 Margie divorced and briefly returned to the farm, then settled with her two children in north Everett, where she met and married Richard ‘Dick’ Kosky in August 1957. Dick purchased a new home for them in south Everett, to Margie it was a palace. The family was extremely happy there. Margie had found a wonderful husband and stepfather to her children. Dick embraced the children wholeheartedly and he was "Dad" to them.

Margie was a homemaker while the kids were young, and very much enjoyed baking. Her cookies were exceptional, but she will always be remembered best for her incredible apple pies. When the kids were in high school, Margie took a job as a cook in that same school. She was nervous, since it was her first paying job, but she loved the work and the other cooks with whom she became good friends. She stayed on as a cook until about 1990, when she and Dick moved to Arlington where their daughter, Cheri, who was now a single mom, had settled. They looked forward to spending more time with family, especially their beloved grandson, Jason. Since they lived close to the high school, Jason usually walked to their house for lunch, often taking a friend with him. They were always sent on their way with cookies, and Jason became very popular because of his grandma's treats!

After high school, Jason entered the US Navy, and was stationed at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, where he was a welder on the submarines. Jason absolutely loved Hawaii, and as usual, he made many friends there. In November 1992, when Jason was only 19 years old, he died in an off-base motorcycle accident. The entire family was devastated but did their best to hold each other together.

Dick started having serious health problems in the late 90's. He passed peacefully in his sleep of heart failure on June 5, 2011. Margie had never learned to drive and was quite alone. Her children convinced her to move into an assisted living facility in Arlington. If you ever asked Margie what her very favorite thing to do was, she would say "visiting" which she was now able to do any time she wanted.

In 2018, Dennis and his wife Terry decided to move Margie to a care facility in Mesa, Arizona, where they could see her regularly. (At this time Cheri was moving around the country). Margie adjusted to Mesa quite nicely. Dennis and Terry often took lunch for all of them and shared it on the patio. Margie loved their visits, and until the end of her life she was happy and smiling. On September 13, 2025, like her beloved husband, Margie died very quietly in her sleep. Most of us can only hope to have as happy a life as Margie had. She will be greatly missed by her children, daughter-in-law, brother, and several nieces and nephews.